Fixing The Sixth
by Terakali
Summary: The sixth volume had a great start, but tripped halfway through and smashed its nose on some suspiciously placed landmines. Perhaps that issue can be... Remedied. Adam isn't inexplicably weaker, Cordovin isn't as intelligent as a trained eggplant, and people can actually FIGHT again.
1. Pep Talk

**Allo, everyone. It's been a while since I've written on here- I've been busy writing my book series, and I don't want to post too much of it online since, you know, I want to get payed for it.**

**However, I've been stewing on what to publish on here for a while, and the ending to Volume Six left me so thoroughly disappointed that my hand was forced. The first half was so promising- I honestly though they'd surpassed Monty- up and until they arrived in Argus. Everything following that, besides the Pyrrha statue moment, was laughably terrible.**

**So, I'll be writing a new ending. Assume that everything prior to the start of this story is exactly the same, since I can't be bothered to make the full AU I want right this second. Maybe I'll get around to it when I've finished Book 2. The ****_only _****exception is that Adam didn't drop his mask, he still has it. That whole blindfold thing was stupid- he might as well have just kept the mask.**

**I honestly think Adam's character as a whole was wasted horrifically. His power, his presence, and even his ideals were completely ruined, and I'll put emphasis on fixing that in this rendition.**

**For now, it's great to see you all again, and I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**So... I have some bad news. For me, but you all as a consequence.**

**As some of you may know, I recently moved down to Memphis, Tennessee. I had two jobs lined up, two different people who were supposed to pay me, and a place lined up to stay at for a month for $300. A great start, given the decent wages and low cost of living down here.**

**Well... I was shafted. Both jobs were canceled by the pandemic, I haven't had luck in finding more, and both people who owe me backed out. Worse, while my roommates are willing to hold onto me a little longer, I have nothing. I will be on the streets.**

**I have an interview with FedEx here soon and might be able to use that to recover by next month, but there will still be a period of homelessness before I get a few paychecks. In the intermeaning time, I will be unable to write or even update the lot of you, as I'll be without both internet and electricity.**

**I'm writing this both as a warning about my absence and a personal request. I don't want charity, but if any of you are stable enough to commission something, _please _consider hiring me.**

**I've worked or trained for over a dozen different industries, have professional writing and editing skills, can produce high-end digital art (check out Terakali on DeviantArt for examples), and- for those in the Memphis area- I am more than willing to do general labor. Anything helps.**

**All of that said, Sparks _should _be completed before I am kicked out, assuming nothing drastic changes in the next few days. Followers will still be notified as normal when that happens.**

**Sorry for delivering such sobering news, and I hope you're all having a better time of it than me.**

**Tchuss.**

* * *

"Are... Are they right?" On any other day, he'd have a problem with talking to himself in public, but Oscar couldn't bring himself to care right now. The things he'd learned, about Ozpin's past and his own future... "Talk to me, please..."

There wasn't an answer, but then what had he expected? Maybe Jaune was right... Ozpin was immortal, but only by taking over and controlling people. He'd taken over peoples entire lives before, and didn't seem to have any problem doing the same again. He'd only stopped because he'd become disillusioned with his own cause. That wasn't comforting- if anything, it terrified him more than having his mind consumed.

Everyone, everywhere, was going to die unless they pulled a miracle out of thin air. On top of that, they weren't even being allowed into Atlas, the _easiest _place for them to work with, thanks to Weiss.

_What have I got myself into...?_

No, he hadn't even been responsible for that! Ozpin had just popped into his head one day!

Oscar let his gaze drift to the fountain in the center of town. A statue of Pyrrha Nikos was there- a legend in Mistral, and someone hailed as invincible for having _never _taken a serious hit in any battle for the last two years of her career.

And she'd died. Many people didn't know her exact fate, which left them with a pensive hope, but he'd been stripped of that. The strongest of their generation had died, without even a body left behind.

What hope did they have?

He didn't even have the Apathy to blame for these feelings anymore. Brunswick farms was well behind, and while everyone else seemed more or less neutral about the issue, he couldn't let those thoughts go. Were they his own, or born from those monsters?

He had no idea, and nobody was around to help sort it out. Granted, that was partially his fault. He had run out on them, after Jaunes outburst, but who would blame him!? He was just a farmhand, younger than even Ruby- if only by a little- and completely lacking in training. Ozpin was the only reason he'd survived the battle at Haven, and he was silent now. Not absent- he could still feel the man's aura, seeing as Oscar _didn't _have one- but inactive, inert.

A shock of blonde hair caught his attention, and he recognized Jaune instantly. Was he out looking for him?

Oscar shied away, hiding himself in an alley. He appreciated the thought- he really did- but he needed to sort his own thoughts out before he returned.

He kept moving through the side streets until he emerged back in a main road. There, his stomach helpfully reminded him that- panic attack or no- he hadn't had a proper meal in nine hours. With a mental shrug, he made his way towards a small cafe. It had outside seating, but he went inside instead, hoping to avoid any of the others.

Honestly, he should have guessed Oum was going to keep up his string of bad luck. Fortunately, it wasn't any of the students or even Qrow. As he stepped inside, it was to find Maria at one of the tables, nursing a steaming mug of some brown liquid- either tea or coffee.

_Maybe she can help, _his treacherous mind suggested. Hm...

Maybe.

* * *

Ruby shot up suddenly when someone plopped down beside her. How had she not noticed their approach? They'd come across a hardwood porch, and she hadn't even heard them sitting down- it was the head that leaned onto her shoulder that got her attention.

Man... She must have been really distracted...

Ignoring the red tint to her cheeks, Ruby sat back down to face Nora.

"You done brooding?" the girl asked, before Ruby could even get a word out. "You've been sat out here for twenty minutes."

Ruby blinked, her eyes naturally flicking to the wall-mounted clock inside. Now if only she knew when she'd gone outside... Thankfully, Nora misread her _new _embarrassment as just a response to her words and waved it aside.

"I was just wondering if I could help, seeing as the boys are still off looking for Oscar." Yeah... She was kinda hoping to avoid that can of worms too. "So, what's up?"

Her earlier frown reappeared and she looked away. "I've been thinking about... Some stuff. A lot of things, really." Nora hummed in question. "What about...? Er- that's..." She sighed, meeting her gaze head on. Nora always seemed to have this manic energy, and it was still present in the way she kicked her legs out from the porch, but her expression was serious. From the hint of concern in her eyes, even beyond her words, it was clear she wanted to help.

Ruby took a deep breath, steeling herself.

"Our group has some problems. Some, like Oscar running off, will likely solve themselves in time. Others..." A hand rose to cover one eye. "I don't think we're strong enough to do this. We're going up against a lot of powerful people, here- Cinder, Hazel, Tyrian, the White Fang... But I need to be the hopeful and cheery one; I need to lift everyone's spirits, or several of us are just going to give up here."

Nora nodded along, saying nothing and keeping her expression the same.

"And even if we beat everyone, gathered the relics, and beat Salem- somehow- wouldn't the Gods just wipe us out anyway? We're hardly going to look peaceful if we just killed a bunch of people along the way, and that's not even accounting for criminals or terrorists!"

Nora nodded again, still silent.

"This whole task is just so huge," she lamented, letting her head fall into her hands. "I haven't even learned how to use my eyes yet, but I'm expected to be the leader on the frontlines of this secret war. Worse, I _want _to be there- to end the Grimm threat and save the world- but nobody seems to know how!"

Another nod, but Ruby didn't continue.

And so Nora finally spoke. "You're thinking about this the wrong way, Ruby. Tell me, what happens if we stop?"

"That's not helping," Ruby deadpanned. "We both know what would happen if Salem got her way."

"Right- doom and gloom, darkness reigns eternal, all of that. Most would consider that reason enough to try- and I certainly do- but do you know why I'm actually invested in this?"

_Huh? _Ruby's eyes narrowed for a moment, but nothing came to mind. Salem _was _a threat; that was why Ozpin was involved, and the rest of them were because of him. What other reason was th-

A sharp pain pricked at her forehead, and Ruby recoiled for a moment while rubbing at it. Nora looked unimpressed, her hand still hanging where she'd flicked her.

"Whatever you were just thinking, you're wrong." Nora's smile returned, and she leaned back as if nothing happened. "The real reason I'm here is pretty simple. It's selfish, shortsighted, and plenty of other things people normally think of as bad. In short, I don't want to lose any of you."

What? "That... Doesn't sound very selfish."

"Not to you, no, but then I knew you wouldn't think like that." Somehow, despite Nora's lopsided grin and upbeat tone, that sounded like an insult. "However, I say it's selfish because I'm _not _thinking like you. When you picture this quest as something to save the world, it's an act of charity. It's something you're doing for the good of everyone- a selfless deed, committed not for reward but because it's the right thing to do."

Well... Yeah. That was what heroes did- what Summer did. Wasn't that the ideal all good huntresses aspired for?

"Me, on the other hand?" Nora's smile took on a somber note, which was quickly masked under her usual cheer. "I don't want to live without any of you. I'm in it to protect my life- not my survival, but the sliver of happiness I worked for in this chaotic and messy world. So I don't lose anything I love..."

_Like Pyrrha._

The pair were silent for a while, letting the full weight of the words sink in. However, amidst the void left behind, the smallest quirk formed at the corner of her lips.

"I'll fight for you all, too..." It was whispered, but Ruby had a feeling Nora heard. In turn, Nora had a feeling Ruby didn't mind.

* * *

Qrow watched with a vacant expression as the whole crew came streaming into the living room. _He _was leaning against the banister, at the top of the stairs, since any involvement from him would only make things worse. Him and his semblance had some talking to do.

_Huh... I wonder what would happen if the kid boosted my semblance. _It wasn't worth testing, since a catastrophic bout of bad luck was _already _standard operating procedure for him, but it was an interesting thought.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one in the house who was thinking.

"You're not going to just get away with stealing an Atlesian bullhead, you morons." His interjection had about the expected reaction- lidded glares. Meh, he'd gotten worse from Glynda for years. "Even assuming you could get on board- which would require them to pay next to zero attention to you lot- you'd then have to bypass _every _security measure they'd have. You'd have better odds taking on Cordovin's mech."

Murmurs erupted down below, and he only caught a few, but he instantly regretted the last twenty-six years of his existence.

"That wasn't a suggestion!" he shouted, but it fell on deaf ears. No, no, it's fine. It's not like _he, _the drunk unmarried bandit, was expected to be the responsible adult around. _Oh wait! _"Look, if you want to get to Atlas, why not just send a message to Jimmy Irondick? The CCT is down, sure, but Cordovin can't just decline to take your mail."

_And suddenly I regret another twenty seconds._

Of course they would take that as a suggestion too. Instantly, they were tossing around ideas of mailing themselves off to Atlas just like Taiyang did to- wait, what? He _mailed _Zwei to Beacon!? HOW!? And why!?

He could feel a headache forming, and it wasn't from a hangover for once. That'd take another few hours to kick in.

Whatever... It wasn't his job to stop them making mistakes, anyway. He was just here to help pick up the pieces. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? With him not involved, obviously, because there were some pretty awful endings if he was- death chief among them.

_Oum, I need another drink._


	2. Curtain Call

**Someone in the reviews had a problem with me describing Adam as inexplicably weaker, and specifically stated that proper frame of mind and increased strength on Blake and Yang's part was enough to win.**

**Absolute bullshit. Neither Yang or Blake have gained any significant strength. Yang is actually weaker, since she stagnated for months. You can't recover from that in days- inactivity can kill your career if you work boxing, mixed martial arts, etc. Blake didn't have that same issue, but she hasn't been training either. She should be just as powerful as she was back in season 3, which was nothing in the face of Adam.**

**Adam has a ridiculous set of skills which are perfectly tailored to take them on. His shadows are aggressive, allowing him to keep up with Blake's defenses, while his moonslice can completely ignore Yang's semblance by hitting so hard she loses her entire aura in one attack. Granted, he had a moments charge time, but the result is undeniable. _He_ should win, not them. Their victory was plot armor, and nothing more.**

**On top of that, he lists frame of mind and their lack of fear as compelling reasons for them to win. What the fuck are you smoking, dude? Yang is supposed to have PTSD, and you think she's going to be_ fearless!? _More importantly, why doesn't she have any hesitation or even guilt about straight up murdering someone? **

**Blake shouldn't be any better, as the Battle of Haven moment was a complete cop out on the writers parts that ruined one of Adam's best qualities- his lingering presence. None of the villains had that after volume five, actually, with volume six killing off the only villain who _might _be able to earn it back: Adam.**

**So yes, Adam was heavily nerfed. He was setup as leagues above them in volume three, and with no training or significant powerups Blake and Yang were able to straight up murder him with minimal difficulty. Saying otherwise is an insult to my- and your- intelligence.**

* * *

**Sorry about the rant... That review just _really _pissed me off. It came at a bad time, too, since I just woke up at six on my day off for a test I didn't even need to go to. I'm leaving it in because it makes a salient point. **

**Powerscaling has never been RWBY's strongsuit, and that's fine. Thanks to Monty's animation, I don't think anyone really cared about discrepancies- the spectacle mattered more than their strength, and the outcome of each fight still aligned with our expectations. With the fight choreography in the shitter (Cinder vs Neo notwithstanding) that element has been lost, and more thought should be put into how their fights are arranged.**

**As a writer myself, who specifically has an overpowered MC, stuff like this is important to me. It sucks to see these problems in a show I used to love, and it's that very feeling that compels me to create this. I don't expect everyone to agree with my opinions, but this isn't one. Miles and Kerry are not proficient at writing action. That's fine- I personally suck at writing dialogue, even with years of experience on it- but failing to recognize those faults and having people cover for them is not going to get that fixed. I _want _you to bring up writing issues in my work, with suggestions or tips on how to fix it. The fact that they don't, and that they shield themselves from criticism, is more of a problem than the failures themselves.**

**Please, keep watching if you enjoy it, but don't assume I'm wrong just because I don't agree.**

**Thank you.**

* * *

"What did we miss?"

Everyone in the room turned at his words, and an uncomfortable amount of them looked annoyed by the interruption. That passed, thankfully, replaced by wide smiles and sounds of surprise.

"OSCAR!" Nora cheered, shooting forward and tackling him to the ground. "Welcome back!"

He tried to say something back, but any sound was muffled into her breasts- and oh, those were soft.

Oscar paused.

_Figures. _Normally Ozpin would have given him some remark about how he was thousands of years old and wouldn't accept being in a lustful teenager. No such luck, so he couldn't even confirm that bastard was still there.

At least Maria eased his other concerns.

_Maria glanced up from her drink as he sat down opposite her. Without eyes, reading her expression was difficult, but the narrowing of her visor was enough to say he'd gotten her attention._

_Except... He didn't actually know what to say. He'd had a moment to calm down, so he wasn't panicking, but what exactly was he hoping to address here?_

_"You're still troubled about your future- both the battle and Ozpin- aren't you?_

_Or she could hit the nail on the head within seconds. That works too. "Well, yeah... Wouldn't you? I'd fought a creep before- a dog sized thing with just two legs and a mouth- but that was it. Now I'm up against criminals, monsters, and an immortal lady who Ozpin couldn't even kill in over a thousand years!"_

_Maria took a sip of her drink. "And you think complaining about it is going to solve your problems?"_

_His head fell. "No, but what should I be doing? I need a plan- guidance- something."_

_"If its a plan you're looking for-" she smirked, "you shouldn't be coming to me. I lost my eyes to a simple ambush, which could have been avoided if I just Gorgon'd a single Nevermore before it hit the bridge I was standing on." She took another drink and tipped back in her chair. "Guidance, on the other hand? That I can do."_

_"Anything," Oscar pleaded, leaning forward._

_"Well, to start, what do YOU want?"_

_Huh? What did he want? To go home, mainly. This whole adventure had been running him ragged, even before their end goal was literally stated to be impossible. Somehow, he felt like that wasn't the answer she was looking for._

_What else was there? Stay alive was another obvious answer, but was too vague. He could do that in any number of ways, and it didn't really leave a direction for him to follow either._

_"I... I don't know."_

_She nodded. "Yep."_

_Oscar blinked. "What? That's it?"_

_"Oh no- that's just the starting point," she stated flatly. "Let me tell you something. Until two days ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was just roaming the world, seeking a purpose that wouldn't come." She smiled bitterly. "I had a purpose, once, but it wasn't even my own. It was assigned to me, because of what I could do. One of the others- Weiss- has a similar option set before her. She could spend her life for the betterment of the Schnee family coffers, but she chose a purpose of her own instead."_

_"Helping us?" he guessed._

_"Not in the slightest." She went to take another sip of her drink, but found it empty. With a sigh, she set it down again. "You said you were a farmhand, correct?" He nodded. "Tell me, Why did you work the fields?"_

_"To help feed my family?"_

_Maria grinned. "Exactly. You did it to protect the status quo- your family, your home, your life. People fight hard for that; many people have willingly died to uphold what they consider to be normal. For some, that's a worthy sacrifice. If I had to guess, that's what Ozpin was thinking for thousands of years. However, that thought process also leads to stagnation and complications with new developments, like the faunus."_

_"Is this supposed to be comforting?"_

_"Oh Oum, no!" She laughed, only stopping when she noted his deadpan expression. "This is leading up to something I swear. Before that, though, I want you to ask yourself something. You thought on what you wanted earlier- can you name a single thing you thought of that wasn't like that?"_

_He... He couldn't. _

_"That's why you are having problems," she explained. "You don't desire a change, so you don't have a thing to work towards. You can only play defense like that, and no offense, but you're terrible at that."_

_"And how does this help me with Ozpin?"_

_She stood up, planting a hand on his shoulder as she passed. "Why would you need help with someone who surrendered?"_

_Without another word, Maria strode out the door._

_Huh... She was right. Why was he-_

_"Are you paying for her, sir?" a waiter asked, interrupting his thoughts. He looked up, specifically at the cup still sitting on the table._

_Dammit._

Leaving him with the bill aside, she'd been a great help. He didn't have a proper plan yet, but that was fine. He knew what he actually wanted- to surpass Ozpin and finally bring an end to the Grimm threat.

It was a lofty ambition- many would consider it ridiculous or impossible- but that was just an excuse for giving up.

"So," he began once he was finally back on his feet. "What are we gonna be doing to get to Atlas?"

* * *

_"I still can't believe you all agreed to this," _Qrow chided through his headset. _"This is idiocy."_

Pfft, no it's not. Qrow just didn't understand her tactical genius. Watch- in an hours time they'd all be on their way to Atlas and he'd be praising the great and wise leader Ruby.

Now, if they'd _just _gone with the mailing idea, then he might have had a point. Hijacking the bullhead that transports the mail mid flight, on the other hand? Even Jaune had praised the idea, so it had to be good. Those protections, like passcodes and keys? They'd have already been put in by the pilot.

All they'd have to do is knock out one or two guys, and then follow Maria's instructions to the letter so they didn't crash into a cliff! It was perfect!

So why was there a mountain's worth of butterflies drowning her insides?

_"I really don't think you should have sent me..." _Jaune groaned from the inside of a large suitcase. Ah- that was it. It wasn't panic; she was suffering from vomit induced nausea.

"Fear not, brave hero, for you have the most important job of all!" Namely, empowering Ren so they didn't get swarmed by Grimm when they moved into their territory. Bullheads were fast, but not subtle, and they'd need to stop to pick everyone up. They'd survive, obviously, but the bullhead would almost certainly be destroyed during the battle.

The rumbling of an engine was their only companion for a few minutes. Jaune wasn't talking for obvious reasons, and Ren was being his usual calm self. Hm... Maybe she should have gotten Nora or Blake involved with this part of the plan. At least then she'd have someone to talk to.

Ah well. It was game time anyway.

The burlap sac fell away, leaving her in a dark room filled with tons of packages and letters. The two biggest containers popped open to reveal Jaune and Ren, the former of which was currently gasping for air.

_Eugh, we are definitely throwing that overboard. _Thankfully, she'd be escaping the smell entirely. The cargo bay, at the base of a bullhead, didn't open to the inside of the ship itself, so she'd be safe once she got into the cockpit.

"You got this," Ruby whispered to herself as she brought up her scroll. The torch function lit up the room, and she quickly scanned for a lever Maria said would be there.

It was a button now, since Atlas was Atlas, but she found it easily enough. The problem only came when she hit it.

"Uh, Maria?"

_"Yeah?"_

"Did we, uh... have a contingency for if the door refused to open?"

Qrow was the one who answered that. "Break_ the hinges? They should be inside, and we don't really need the door for our trip."_

Yeah, but she hadn't wanted to spill everyone's mail into the ocean... It was a worthy sacrifice, but she'd prefer not to make any of them.

Crescent Rose extended in her hand, fluidly slicing through both latches in a single stroke. The door fell away, exposing them to the midday sun- though not a sudden drop in air pressure. They weren't high enough, so nothing was sucked out into the open air.

The pilots were still alerted, though, which meant she needed to work fast. Ren's semblance came over her, purging any lingering nerves, and she was off into the open air.

To an outside observer, it would look as though a red cloth whipped out of the cargo bay and across through the side door. The cockpit door split in half with a single stroke, shattering with a single semblance-enhanced kick.

Ruby blurred forward, gripping both pilots by the back of their collars. She would be the first to admit she lacked physical strength, but her semblance made up for that by propelling her backwards. In a single motion, they were thrown from their chairs and into the back wall- knocked out cold. They looked to have aura, but clearly weren't trained in its use. Fortunate, since it made this as painless a process as possible.

"It's done."

_"Damn, seriously?" _Qrow paused, perhaps realizing just how insulting that was. Not that she really cared- Ren's semblance was great for that. _"Alright- come pick us up. I assume you know how to turn."_

Ruby rolled her eyes, taking a seat in one of the vacated chairs. The control stick was standard, and with no chance to send an alarm, they were home free.

Except...

_"ADV25-320, why are you turning around?" _Their tone made it clear they didn't know- or even suspect- anything. Why would they, when Grimm were so common? That's why these things weren't entirely automated, even by _Atlas._

But Ruby couldn't say she'd spotted some Grimm, now could she? While she hadn't heard the two speak, it was a reasonable guess neither of the middle aged men had a voice like hers.

Maybe Ren could have done it, but then they'd have confirmation codes or the like, wouldn't they?

She remained silent, knowing it would take another few seconds before they triggered the alarm, and stuck to the plan.

* * *

"A stolen bullhead?"

"Yes, miss Cordovin," one of their privates- Yorick, if she recalled correctly- confirmed. "It was one of the Atlas Distribution Vehicles, so it doesn't have any weaponry we'd need to be concerned with, but it was still carrying a number of packages to Atlas."

Cordovin sighed. "And since we don't know what was in them..." She straightened up, as did everyone else in the room in response. "I will attend to this personally. Given who attempted to get a trip to Atlas yesterday, I think I have an old friend to visit." She paused, glancing about the room for something, but not finding it. "Is Camille not here?"

"She's on break," another one of them dutifully reported. "She should be back in thirteen minutes, ma'am."

"Nevermind, I'll prep the Colossus myself." Cordovin made her way to the door, pausing there for a moment. "Tell her she's in charge when she gets back- until then, just don't. Do. Anything."

She kept her controlled posture and vague expression all the way to the hanger, and then into the mech itself. An elevator took her up, allowing her into the open control center where she finally relaxed. The chair was comfortable, and she was away from the watchful eyes of her men.

A smile grew as the door sealed, accompanied by the hanger peeling open. It took a moment for the Colossus to activate- along with numerous buttons and switches- but she was practiced in its use.

It was time to show why nobody messes with Atlas.


	3. One Two Three Four

**"****I still can't believe they still hijacking a bullhead..."**

**Thing is, I don't actually think that was a smart move on the characters part, but it's the best from the writers perspective. The only one who could go to Atlas was Weiss, and having a volume focused on just her would have been boring. Having the problem sorted by mail or any other rational option would have been equally uninteresting.**

**Doing anything else, they would ****_have _****to split the party again, and I don't think anyone wants a repeat of volumes four and five. Additionally, for the sake of allowing this story to fit into the future plot, I do still need them all to get to Atlas together.**

**Long story short, I stuck with it not out of desire but necessity. Besides, the plan to hijack and moving bullhead was far better than one that relied on Weiss' craft ****_not having a military pilot._**

**On my earlier outburst, I'd just like to say that old Adam was my favorite character in RWBY. I thought of him as a fallen paragon- someone unflinching in their morals and goals, with a charisma capable of swaying many to his side, and with the strength to back it all up. His ideology wasn't even that hard to get behind- he had a fervor for justice so strong it became a depravity. Many people actually have the same thing- you ever heard of this little known place called Hell?**

**His character design was also fantastic. While I'd be willing to concede that, in appearance (particularly weapon), Sun is better, Adam was still amazing. In particular, the use of his semblance during the Black trailer really stuck with me. A shame he didn't get a moment like that with it in volume six.**

**FORESHADOWING! **

* * *

"Now lightly press forward," Maria directed, standing a small distance away from the descending bullhead. To the shock of many, the plan was going swimmingly.

Cordovin was after them, obviously, but they shouldn't have anything faster than their delivery vehicles on hand. They were built for speed, after all, and you could hardly skimp when even a slight boost could save lives. Though, given Atlas' reputation, they could have also been worried about the hardware.

The bullhead touched down easily enough. There was a bit of a lurch, but nothing that would cause any damage.

"Everyone on board!" Jaune put his own words to use, leaving the cargo bay and slipping into the passenger section. Everyone else followed, with varying levels of haste- her and Qrow being the least in that regard, though for different reasons. Give her a break; she was old.

Unfortunately, that was just enough time for their local nuisance to arrive.

"You're under arrest for theft of government property!" Cordovin's voice was still distant, but projected loud enough for them to hear. Good enough- in a bullhead chase, they should definitely win.

"Let's move!" she shouted the second Qrow pulled her on board. Take off wasn't gentle, but it _was _fast, and they were above the trees within seconds.

The moment she could stand, Maria grabbed Oscar and dragged him to the front. Without a door, it was easy to shove him into the copilots chair. Ruby, in turn, gave up hers to the only one here with any actual experience. Oscar was here because- as the only one who couldn't properly fight- he might as well learn to drive.

Maria ran a rudimentary scan of the dashboard, primarily focused on the fuel gauge. They couldn't flee directly to Atlas yet, since they'd need to divert away from any Grimm they came across, which would leave them open to Cordovin's troops. As such, they needed to escape _and _cross the ocean.

She took the controls with a smile. Odds stacked against them, but throwing their best at it. Just like the good 'ol days.

"Oscar- I want you to keep an eye on the radar. If anything comes for us, it should show up on there."

He nodded, taking a moment to find the display. It was white- instead of the usual green- but was otherwise like any other. She left him to it, instead watching the horizon for any signs of black.

"Uh..."

Maria didn't look his way, but her attention shifted. "What is it?"

Oscar hesitation. "There's, um... Something approaching from behind us- and fast."

She glanced down to the radar, but nothing was on the display. Her hearing wasn't particularly good anymore, but she wasn't hearing any other sets of engines either. "How do you figure?"

Instead of answer, he just pointed out the window.

She narrowed her eyes, but turned around anyway. What was he on abou-

Oh.

Oh...

_Ooohhh..._

That was going to complicate things just a wee bit.

* * *

"This isn't working," Yang growled as she popped Ember Celica open to reload. The mech- whatever it was- hadn't so much as scorched from her firepower. More impressively, it stood up to Nora's arsenal with equally little to show for it.

"It must have a shield of some kind," Ren muttered, more to himself than anything. It still ticked her off even more, because _of course it had shields. _If it didn't, the very least it would have is the ash from their own ammunition on it. Instead, there was nothing.

She turned to the rest of them. "Any other bright ideas? If we don't do something, it will literally grab us out of the sky."

Nobody answered for the longest time. It felt like minutes, though must have been only a few seconds since they weren't caught yet.

"Why aren't we just taking to the sky?" Ruby eventually asked. Bullheads normally stuck low so they could break line of sight easily, but there was no way _that thing _could fly after them.

"Because we'd be taken out of the sky," Maria replied easily, all too calm about the situation. Or, at least, she seemed it. "See that things right arm? It's a dust cannon, and I'd bet my goggles that thing has an anti-air function. Some shrapnel cannon or the like. Remember- we don't need to take critical damage to lose. If we can't make the whole trip to Atlas, we lose."

"Surrender at once!" Cordovin repeated for the third time. "Cooperation begets leniency!"

Yang growled again. "Dammit! What are we supposed to even do!?"

"Pray for a miracle?" Jaune suggested. And really, when that sounded like the best solution, you knew you were screwed.

When no lightning came down to smite Cordovin, however, it was made clear that this needed to be dealt with directly. "Qrow," Yang started, turning to him. "Turn into a bird and try and pinpoint some kind of weakness." He nodded, leaping out the side door mid-conversion. "For now, our only option is to take it on directly. Everyone who can fight, get out."

She led by example, only sparing them another second before gunning it for the door.

They could see the mech a hundred meters off, and yet still _way_ too close for something so huge. It was moving fast, but Cordovin had to have seen them jump out. If she had to guess-

"That is not surrender, you brats! Come here this instant!"

And just like that, she stopped chasing the bullhead. Granted, she probably knew they needed to be on there to get the use out of it, but it at least gave them a moment to think. This thing had to have a weakness of some kind, and even if it didn't, they could always make one.

The Nevermore from initiation came to mind.

Funnily enough, right then was when a loud "Caw!" rang out over the forest.

Qrow- he must have found something. Yang looked up for him in the foliage; he was still in the air, moving towards her. No... Not towards her- to her left.

She turned.

_"... I will make it my mission to destroy everything you love." Rage incarnate looked her way. "Starting with her."_

_Yang stumbled back a step, and then another, all the while he stalked forward. His blade, as red as the blood dripping from it, was bared towards her, but her eyes weren't on it._

_A crimson glow emanated from the slits in his mask, captivating her attention. There was a bloodlust there, but also an easy confidence present in his smirk. She was prey- a target with no hope but to run._

_So why couldn't she? Her feet moved, but no distance was gained, and still he moved closer and closer with a casual stride._

_Ember Celica roared its fury, but he deflected each shot with __contemptuous ease. To spite her, his blade began to glow- charged by her own power._

_Yang tried to backpedal more, only to run into a wall. Had that been- no. It hadn't been there. Nonetheless, she was pinned and at his mercy._

_Adam smiled viciously, drawing his blade back to end it in a single strike._

_The world ran red._

* * *

Qrow slammed his blade down directly in the terrorists path, forcing him away from his niece.

Crimson blade- decorated White Fang mask- it wasn't hard to recognize Adam Taurus. From the way Yang had frozen, despite his best attempts to warn her, she'd recognize him too. How... Fortunate.

He'd get the chance to skin the man alive; truly his semblance shined upon him today.

Harbinger gave off a mechanical hiss the moment the transformation began, but he didn't wait for it to finish. He was already on the assault with the Branwen clan's trademark aggression.

Adam was fast- faster than him- but was clearly more accustomed to fighting a sword than a scythe. His initial swing- when it was still mostly a sword- was deflected easily. The second attempt to knock Harbinger aside, however, left Adam's blade within the inside of his reach.

Qrow spun into it, dragging both weapons out of position and leaving Adam open for a boot to the skull.

Whatever training Adam had received, it was more than enough to see that coming, and he deftly threw himself to into a roll.

Decades of experience and honed instinct kept him from following. Adam wasn't aiming for him- he wanted to kill Yang, and probably more of them, so he couldn't start a chase.

Keeping a close eye on the terrorist, Qrow ducked back to where Yang was still having some kind of panic attack. She had fallen backwards, and was still trying desperately to crawl away from an opponent who definitely _wasn't _where she was looking. "Yang!" he shouted, making sure to keep his face in her field of view. "Please, snap out of it. We're-"

Adam moved- something he was prepared for- but it wasn't towards him. Was one of the others further out? _Shit... _He couldn't leave Yang while she was like this; anyone else would have to regroup and handle him there. Without conscious thought, Aura still defended from minor things- tree branches and the like- but it would offer nothing against a huntsman. She needed him.

Dammit.

He considered trying to get them to rally on him, but that would only give Cordovin an easy target. Fortunately, he thought of something _much _better to shout out. "ADAM TAURUS IS HERE!"

The response was visceral on multiple fronts. A shout from Blake, a quivering pant from Yang, a few questions shouted out, what sounded suspiciously like Weiss choking, and- most importantly- the sound of Cordovin gasping magnified over her mech's speakers.

_What now, Taurus? _Adam might well have been able to take him down in a fight. Youth combined with a semblance that actually aids him in fighting went a long way. That wasn't what the fight was anymore. Even if _everyone _on his side was somehow useless, it was a nine versus one versus one, and Cordovin would have no qualms razing the whole forest to the ground to get the White Fang's chief enforcer.

Hell, he'd have done it himself if it was an option.

Qrow couldn't see any more than the mech's legs through the trees, but the very fact that it had stopped moving entirely was hint enough at what she was doing. Did she have some way to scan the area? That was... Really dangerous, actually. While she focused on Adam, though, they still had a chance to find and exploit some weakness.

This was fine.

He just had to keep telling himself that.

* * *

Adam was here.

Blake ran through a full range of emotion, from disgust and rage to an altogether more revolting emotion- regret. Why should she harbor any feelings of guilt over Adam? He'd been the one to reject his compassion- the very targeted aggression the two campaigned for- to take a petty revenge against humanity as a whole.

And if he was here...?

Gambol Shroud trembled in her hands. She wasn't shaking; her grip was tight enough to make it shudder. Adam was here- and he must have known he wouldn't be winning this fight. How could he? Even as powerful as he was, his aura had limits. This was a suicide mission.

A mission to punish her.

Grass tore from the ground as she sprinted towards Qrow's voice. Her eyes flicked about, looking for the characteristic shock of red. If he wasn't in the open, he would be-

Blake lept into the air, branches giving way without resistance as she cut up before her. Since he was there... The impact ran up her arms, but she'd been prepared for that. She was less prepared for the cold gaze Adam gave her through the slits in his mask. That wasn't rage- not anymore.

He swung his blade as though she wasn't even there, knocking Blake back and into a different tree. She didn't have time to see what he did- instincts ran wild and she flung herself away, a clone taking the blow in her place.

The clone, and the newly formed stump that had been behind it.

Rolling back up to her feet, Blake ran to one side while popping a few shots from its pistol form. She wasn't alone in that; all around her, gunfire sang as Ren, Ruby, and Qrow picked out his location.

Adam bore it all without so much as a wince, and was moving before any of Nora's shots could touch down. He launched himself forward too fast to react, and the downward swing forced her down to her knees. Despite the storm of bullets that impacted his back- and both Jaune and Nora charging their way- he spared the time to wrench her blade to the side and attack.

Just the slightest delay, to ensure the attacks success despite her clones, and it still cost him. White spread out in a circle beneath them and, before he could strike, flung the pair into the air.

Blake's sheathe, a cleaver in its own right, slammed against Wilt with enough force to send them both backwards. While she was able to catch herself on the branches of a nearby tree, Adam had no such luck. Another glyph formed below him in midair, and while he shattered it with a sidelong swing, that left him in a poor position to land.

He didn't land at all, actually. Accelerated by yet another glyph, Nora took point and _smashed _him upwards.

That attack wouldn't be enough on its own, but it still formed the tiniest of a smile on Blake's face. It was working- they were going to win, so long as nothing went horribly wrong.

"TAURUS!" a voice that sounded remarkably like specialist Cordovin shouted out above them. The very same specialist who was piloting a mech with a giant dust cannon on one arm.

Blake felt she could be forgiven for the string of obscenities that followed as she went to dashed up the nearest tree.


	4. Two Two Three Four

**This chapter was a bit difficult for me to write, both in the intellectual sense and the literal one. Fortunately, I am nothing if not stubborn, and so here we are.**

**Adam is a difficult character to write from the perspective of, since I wanted to change the way I spoke of each event into two different classes. His actions would be described pragmatically, with him simply describing the actions. However, his observations and thoughts would be longer, more detailed- and all the while I'd have to balance the flawed nature of his morality with how it reflects on me.**

**That last part was much easier for Draga, since he's just a bloody psychopath. I don't have to justify his actions to you- only make it seem like they're justified to him. Adam is different, since I want you to accept his ideals without accepting his methods, which is an altogether more difficult task.**

**Whether I succeeded or failed, I want you to let me know. This story is as much an experiment as Excalibrrr was, albeit in different ways, and I want to improve as much as possible along the way.**

**Thank you in advance.**

**On a different note, I have to both congratulate and lament as mister Engineer1869. He has singlehanded predicted at least three major ideas I'd worked into this thus far in his reviews (though I won't specify which ones for obvious reasons). Unfortunately, that very fact means he might just enjoy it less for having predicted it, and he seems so enthusiastic.**

**Dammit fate, throw me a bone here. **

* * *

The scent of lavender was definitely not something he expected to reach his attention. Actually, it had been one of the last things he'd expected, but that didn't change the fact that it seemed to flood his nostrils and engulf his other senses. Was this a part of that explosion that orange-haired girl had created? It _had_ been blue, and there was no denying how disorienting the whole thing felt.

Trees whirled past him, branches caught and tore at his sleeves, and all the while he soared upwards as an uncontrolled mess.

Strange, then, that he wasn't angry, or even confused. He was overwhelmed, but not with an emotion...

Apathy.

Not the Grimm- though he had encountered a few before. The sensation itself was all Adam could feel, if it even counted as a feeling.

Vengeance was a fickle thing. When he'd been younger, rage had burned bright within him, and those above had been more than willing to channel it towards people who deserved it. The SDC, the Atlas Military, racist Mistralian bars- anything that didn't align with his goals was scrubbed from the world at the hilt of a crimson blade.

He stared down at his weapon- though that quickly became any number of directions since he was flipping around wildly into the air. Strange, how little that seemed to matter in comparison to the scratches he could see on Blush.

Wilt, by contrast, was completely perfect. No dents, scratches, or even a smudge upon its sheen surface. That was bound to change, when it once more became slick with the blood of his enemies.

A shotgun blast send him flying backwards, but it also offered some degree of control to his descent. His blade moved in tandem, offering him a surface to catch onto when it stabbed into a tree.

He glanced below, where the rest of _her _people would be. They weren't visible from here, nor- he imagined- would he be in reverse. Thanks to the trees, the only thing visible to him was the Colossus.

Hm... Perhaps he wasn't as apathetic as he thought. The mounting disgust within him seemed to agree.

Very well. Blake and her ilk wanted both of them defeated, though perhaps some of them wanted him dead instead. Perhaps there _was_ a chance for something greater here.

One blue and one grey eye glared up towards the glass pane that was the mechs only window. The glare of the sun blocked him from seeing inside, but there was little doubt the pilot could see him. There was hesitation, however, in how she hadn't attacked him yet.

Fear, perhaps?

He didn't think on it. Even as powerful as he was, the shield generators protecting all Colossi would be more than enough to block his blade. As much as he hated the decision, he did need help.

Cordovin finally took action, swinging the left arm of the Colossus towards him. It was slow- at least in comparison to him- but would have been more than enough to crush him if he'd stayed. Fortunately, by simply withdrawing Wilt from its wooden 'sheathe', he was back out of her line of sight.

That wouldn't last long. He could already hear the arm changing to some sort of weapon. Cordovin had no hope of catching _any _of them if she didn't clear away the trees, but the forest was miles across, which meant he had time to... Honestly, he didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but it-

Instincts roared in his head, and a decade of battle experience pinpointed the threat through hearing alone. A blast from Blush had him flying to one side, narrowly avoiding the whistling blade of its sister weapon- Gambol Shroud.

Adam didn't bother to catch himself midair again- that would only give her an advantage- and instead slammed directly into the ground. A minuscule portion of his aura kept his ankle from shattering, and he was otherwise unaffected as he glared up at her.

Rage welled up within him again, but it was tempered now. He had always had a powerful drive, and more powerful emotions. One didn't survive as long as he did by letting them control their actions in a fight, or get him into one where it wasn't necessary.

"Blake," he said in greeting, though he didn't expect one back. She didn't say a word at all, actually, and instead lept down with an overhead strike. He sidestepped it easily. "Blake," he tried again.

Her response was a wide swipe towards his abdomen, which he simply ducked back to avoid. She kept coming, attack after attack, with remarkable aggression. Blake wasn't a frontline fighter, though, and it showed in the way he easily dealt with each strike- steadily giving ground as he attempted to speak.

A step back, block her blade with Blush, , knock her cleaver aside with one hand, duck, let her hit a boulder instead of him, jump over the ribbon wrapping around the other end of said rock, and a final backwards hop out of her range.

"Blake."

She growled, but she was unused to it. Rather than intimidate him, Adam could only sigh- blocking another two attacks with ease. She was angry with him- he got that, and he _should _be equally pissed at her. _She _had been the one to betray him, not the other way around. She left in the middle of a mission, both endangering his life and abandoning the very dream she'd sought with him for over a decade.

And even now, she didn't so much as have words for him. Just violence- the very thing she claimed didn't work in leaving him.

His face contorted into a snarl at that. How dare she look down on all his- their- hard work from some high horse while _he _was trying to be the bigger person for once!? Who was it that had inspired fear in an entire nation, toppled Beacon, and usurped the White Fang!?

On the next pass, he finally drew Wilt and _smashed _her blade aside. The sheer force behind it left her off balance, a weakness he immediately capitalized on by drawing Wilt back up under her arm. Aura protected her from damage, but that did nothing to stop the crimson edge from blasting her back.

He was on her in an instant, slamming the hilt of his weapon into her gut midair. Her gasp was overshadowed by the crack she made on impact with the ground, and was quickly followed by a startled cry as he pressed a boot onto one of her arms.

Two seconds- just two- was all it took to pin her down and leave her weapon too far to reach. Had she gotten weaker since abandoning their cause, or had he simply been blind to it, just as he'd been blind to her doubt?

Either way, she was defeated. Not even her shadows would let her escape, since Blake couldn't actually leave with his leg pressing her into the ground.

"Blake," he repeated for the final time. "Why do you do this to me, Blake? That's twice now you've refused to talk to me; twice now I've had to resort to violence. Is this what you want me to do?"

She turned away.

"LOOK AT ME!" he _roared, _digging his boot further into her arm. She grit her teeth through it all, the pain obvious, and still refused to so much as glance his way. It pained him, in more ways than one, but _fine_. It's not like she'd ever listened to him before.

He let out a breath, all emotion slipping away and leaving nothing but a cold, apathetic disdain in his eyes. She didn't see the transition, obviously, but she definitely noticed when he took a step back and- in doing so- let her go.

She reacted instantly- flipping up to her feet and moving a good distance from him. Adam ignored the complete lack of faith it showed- he couldn't bring himself to care. While he _would _get revenge, for her actions at Haven if nothing else, he had better things to do right now.

"Rhodes' Quake," he said, giving no other context to his words. They weren't needed- from the widening of her yellow eyes, she remembered what they meant. "That was all I wanted to say, but you-" he stopped.

No... He was done. The second the Colossus fell, he'd be leaving. Both Atlas and the SDC still stood, and he wasn't about to die for revenge until after they stopped.

Adam kept moving, never once turning back to face her. He knew he wouldn't be able to leave if he did.

* * *

Qrow, JNR, and the rest of team RWBY found her quickly enough. At a guess, they heard his shout and came running.

_"LOOK AT ME!"_

She hadn't then, but her gaze still slipped to where he'd left. It hadn't been very long- less than a minute, certainly- but she could tell he wasn't watching them. How far he'd gone, however, she couldn't tell. She'd only seem him like that once before... When he'd toppled Beacon.

And yet here she was, having seen him walk away from that very same rage.

"You okay?" It was Ruby who asked, and was also currently moving about checking her for injuries. There weren't any, but Blake couldn't bring herself to dissuade the girl.

"I'm fine. Adam just..." she sighed. "He wanted to talk." That seemed to surprise them, and for good reason. Hell- she hadn't expect it either. But from what he said, and how he'd acted... She couldn't come to any other conclusion. "He had a plan for taking down the Colossus, but it's going to require us to work with him."

Rhodes' Quake was an old plan- four years old, specifically- and had never been used. It was based on his semblance and relied on the absorption of one of the Colossus' own dust attacks. However, even that far back, anyone in any position to pilot a Colossus would know about Adam's Moonslice and would avoid blasting him like that.

Instead of relying on people being stupid- though, hey, you never know- the plan was to get the Colossus to attack someone else and for him to take the blast instead. Blake, with her ability to leave decoys, was the obvious pick for bait back then.

"Our- his strategy would definitely work, but would also offer Adam a chance to kill any of us." He would only _get _the one strike, but if it could destroy a Colossus then it could cut through them all with ease. She doubted he would, since it would leave him against Cordovin by himself, but she was hardly the best judge for this. She didn't even know how she felt.

The same could not be said for the others who all responded with the expected reaction- an immediate show of defiance. All except Qrow. He still frowned, and his glance towards Yang explained why, but he seemed to understand the threat they were currently under. "What the plan?"

She didn't get a chance to explain since Cordovin chose just that moment to ruin all of their days.

Fire washed out from the Colossus in a wave, tearing up trees and devouring all in its path.


	5. Marching In Step

**Sorry about this one being late. I had to rewrite Jaune's segment several times to account for a not-quite-secret twist coming up in a chapter or two. Haven't decided if I want to start a chapter with it or use it as a cliff hanger, so... You know, stuff and things.**

**This chapter was also delayed because I'm an idiot... I started to write a song for it, in the same vein as those I do for Fickle Things, before remembering that there's nothing to _play _the song within this world. No video game powers, no airship (Excalibrrr), the like.**

**I could technically have Cordovin play it, but that doesn't seem like something she'd do...**

**For those of you interested, Fickle Things - Outset is finished, but won't be fully published here. You can find the full (but unedited) version on Litnet, with the first few (ten?) chapters on here. The completed version will be available for purchase sometime after summer, though I can't actually say when right now as I need a new publisher... God dammit.**

**Now if you'll excuse me, I have _another _chapter to get started on, since I _am _behind.**

* * *

Cordovin squinted, but it didn't offer any help peering through the inferno.

_Hm... _The forest wouldn't survive, but that was a worthy sacrifice to capture Adam Taurus. As for the others? Well, she'd capture them too, but a single bullhead was hardly worth the same as the White Fang's chief enforcer- and possible leader, though that was only a rumor for now. Ooh- that's a good question for interrogation.

The dust feeding the blast cut off at the press of a button, but the wall of fire still kept moving. Leaves, branches, and even the occasional tree burned away, revealing the scorched ground- but also anything atop it.

Off to one side, some spots of color identified the thieves, but there wasn't any sign of Taurus. A shame, but there wasn't much point stressing over it. She'd have run from the Colossus, too.

Her mech strode forward, looming over the targets with its impressive height. She couldn't read expressions from up here, but it didn't take a specialist like herself to guess how afraid they'd be right now. "I'll accept your unconditional surrender now." They were in no shape to fight, or even run. They were criminals, and she was within her rights to blast them away if they resisted further. Combined with any damage the wave of fire did to their Auras, they had no choice left.

"NEVER!"

Or they could be idiots. That works too.

Two button presses had the cannon swapping to Ice Dust, meanwhile the mech took another step forward- directly on where they were standing. They scattered, as they should, and proceeded to squander more ammo in a futile attempt to get through the shield.

Laughable.

A hiss of steam accompanied the click of the cannon. It spun out to one side, towards where she'd seen the only adult in their party, before firing. He ran towards the Colossus' leg before it actually went off, but one of the others wasn't quite so fortunate.

_There you are, princess. _Not a real one, but the daughter of Ghira and Kali Belladonna. How she hadn't been arrested during her time in Vale, she neither knew nor cared, but seeing both her legs pinned by ice was cathartic.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a ringing of her scroll. Caller ID said it was Camille- the woman she'd left in charge.

She clicked it off. Seriously, what could those morons have possibly done in the last five minutes? Besides, they were members of the Atlas military! They could handle it.

* * *

Jaune watched on in horror as Cordovin went loose, bombarding the area with dust. Barren hills froze, turned to stone, burned- again- before being swept away by winds strong enough to blow holes in the ground. She attacked with reckless abandon, if it could even be called that when she was _also _effectively invulnerable.

Throwing himself to one side, Jaune narrowly dodged being trapped in stone. As it was, he still took a few cuts and scrapes from the spikes that grew out from the rock.

_We need a plan. _Gee, why didn't he think of that before? A plan! That would solve everything!

Growling to himself, he scanned the battlefield. Qrow and Nora were trying to keep Cordovin busy, intermittently using explosives to blind her and words he wouldn't be repeating as a distraction. Ren was doing what he always did- calmly surveying the mech in an attempt to identify a weakness. Team RWBY was split, with Ruby and Yang throwing attack after attack into the shield while Weiss helped Blake get out of an artificial glacier.

Things were... Not going well.

_Blake said Adam had a plan that we could help with. _Dammit brain, stop reminding me. Working with terrorists was the last thing he wanted on his already lackluster huntsman resume. The only real advantage he offered was his semblance, but nobody here even has an offensive one. The closest they got was Nora or Yang, which gained raw power, but that wouldn't really matter against something this huge.

They needed some way to either use its own power against it

Jaune paused, watching for a moment as Weiss used a combination of Dust and acceleration glyphs to break Blake's binding.

Oh... They did have one person with an offensive semblance. Not in the traditional sense, but perhaps that was even more useful here? Who knows- maybe they didn't even need Adam's help for this.

A quick check that Cordovin was still distracted- she was- and Jaune was sprinting across the clearing. It might have only taken twenty seconds or so, but it felt way longer with the threat of a colossal step landing on his head at any moment.

No instant death awaited him, thankfully, leaving him to take Weiss' side. They shared a moment, scanning the other for injuries, but both found nothing of note.

He didn't say anything as he planted an arm on her shoulder, but she guessed easily enough. Guessing became pointless by the time the white sheen of his Aura overlaid her own, empowering it in a myriad of different ways- many of which he didn't even fully understand.

Not that he needed to, because she clearly did. Weiss kneeled and stuck her rapier, Myrte-whatever, into the dirt. A white circle grew from around the blade, expanding to easily twenty feet across. It wasn't alone, either, as two more appeared a distance away.

Under the Colossus' feet, specifically.

The time it took for them to form was enough for Cordovin to see, but not enough to properly react. Even with one foot moving off, and the cannon rounding on them, Weiss smiled.

It happened in slow motion. The cannon arm aimed at them, already most of the way charged, but shifted as the body itself was destabilized. With one leg in the air, the Colossus wasn't able to balance when the other was suddenly shot off to one side.

Whatever sounds were made, he didn't hear any of them- that's how stunned he was watching the gigantic thing tumble backwards.

And then it landed, the already deafening sound of many tons of steel crashing downward accompanied by the first showing of lightning Dust thus far. It was even louder somehow, but thankfully brief as the bolt vanished into the middle distance at incomprehensible speeds.

And then it was over.

Except, he knew even as he thought it, that Cordovin wasn't finished.

* * *

"I feel like we should be helping them..."

Maria rolled her 'eyes'. He'd only said something like that a dozen times by now.

"We _are _helping them right now. We're keeping the bullhead out of harms way while staying out of theirs." She tapped him with her elbow. "You said it yourself- they're stronger than you are, and while I might be a bit better than you, I'm still ancient. Have a little faith, yeah?"

Oscar sighed, yet another thing he'd done many times already. "Alright..."

"Love the enthusiasm," Maria drawled, sarcasm thick enough paint with. "I'm sure they're fine. What could those morons have possibly done in the last five minutes? Besides- they're huntsman and huntresses; I'm sure they can handle it."

Hm... Somehow, those words just felt wrong, even if she believed in the meaning behind them. Meh- it was probably nothing.

* * *

Ruby practically flew between the fingers of the hand reaching towards her. The Colossus had toppled, and while it had tried to get back up, Weiss and Jaune were able to put a stop to that.

For all intents and purposes, it was grounded. Now all they needed to do was actually take it out.

Crescent Rose swept around her in an arc, and where it would have normally cleaved through steel, it impacted the mech's armor like a mace instead. She didn't bother wasting any of her bullets- they'd all conceded any attempts to get through like that ages ago. Instead, they were forced to try and tax the shield system until it stopped working, all while Cordovin was still trying to bludgeon them.

That sounded exciting, but it really wasn't. It had been, when they started, but the novelty and tension didn't last more than a minute. Atlas did not mess around with their shield technology, apparently.

However long it would take, they weren't really in danger either. Cordovin couldn't see them directly, so was more or less thrashing around, and the wild motions- while powerful- were easy enough to dodge. It didn't look like she could effectively use her cannon either, seeing as she hadn't just blasted them away with another one of those waves of fire.

She didn't know _why _Cordovin couldn't, but that barely mattered. The cannon still definitely worked, at least, since she'd fired off a few more shots among her wasted attacks. Maybe if she knew where Weiss was, they'd be in trouble, but since she didn't-

_Thunk!_

Ruby glanced down, to where she'd heard the sound. She'd been more or less mindlessly swinging at the shield for a few minutes now, but it hadn't made a sound like that before.

For good reason, she noted, staring at where Crescent Rose was jabbed into the metal. The scar was only a few inches long, but that was with minimal effort. Give her a break- she was build for speed, not... Not this.

Still, from the sounds of more metal impacts across the area, they'd finally gotten through the shield.

"It's over, Cordovin!" she shouted, making sure to move as she did. A good idea, since the cannon arm of the Colossus slammed down where she'd been a moment earlier. "Give up, please. I- we- don't want to hurt you."

"Atlas does not bow to terrorists!"

But... Adam wasn't here anymore? She hadn't seem him for more than a second or two, and even then she'd been shooting at him. If that was joining with the terrorists, than the entirety of Vale was guilty.

"Just let us go! We _need _to get to Atlas, and would have gladly just taken a bullhead if you'd let us!"

Cordovin didn't answer with words- at least, not yet- but the sound of the cannon charging was plain to everyone. "I am Caroline Cordovin, Specialist of the Atlas Military, number 184-012. I have been captured by the enemy, and am unable to resist their forces." The cannon didn't fire, but the ring of energy still grew. Was she...?

Ruby didn't finish the thought. The word 'Run!', shouted from Blake, wasn't even needed as everyone realized exactly what was happening.

The sound of her footsteps and heavy breathing were silent in comparison to Cordovin's final words.

"Hail Atlas."


	6. Hail Atlas

**Sorry, sorry, that was ungentlemanly of me.**

**I still think it was the right decision. If this were animated into the show, the first scene of this chapter would be shown before the self destruct, but that structure doesn't properly work in writing. At least, not with the way I'm able to write.**

**As for why? Think about it- the main characters, with the possible exception of Weiss (due to bias), should have all been considered terrorists based on their actions in the show. The fact that Blake _Belladonna _was a part of their party, the partner of Adam- who shows up briefly during this version of the fight- should have led to accusations like that almost immediately.**

**What do you do when your superweapon, capable of taking down a city on its own, is in danger of being taken by terrorists? Even if the main characters wouldn't do anything, which she doesn't know, Adam _definitely _would take the Colossus for himself if possible.**

**Cordovin is a perfect character for my purposes, but the way they used her in the show- the flash redemption through speech (which wasn't a good one, unfortunately)- removed their best vehicle for character development. The main characters _aren't _in the right, but they leave Argus feeling completely okay with their actions and having suffered zero consequences.**

**Moral questions over killing Adam, or risking the killing of a bunch of townsfolk over their journey? Nope- let's have the old prideful specialist change her ways because Ruby is (and I quote) getting character development.**

**That's right- Cordovin helping them was because of RUBY's change in character. My eye literally twitched when watching that.**

**But, as you all know, they're not out of the woods yet. There's still the Leviathan, so they need to stall for Cordo- ah.**

**Huehuehue.**

* * *

**Man... Writing for Ren is actually nostalgic. This is how I actually think in person, outside moments of extreme emotion which- unlike him- I can actually feel on a consistent basis. Thing is, I learned long ago that it's often boring to have a perspective like that, and so have been avoiding it.**

**Well screw the rules, I have dictatorial rights!**

* * *

"This is Cordovin, requesting air support at my location. What's your ETA?"

There was silence for a few tense seconds before an answer finally came.

"Caroline! We're under attack!" _What? _"Some Dust attacks went off in your direction," Camille was quick to explain. "Nothing here took damage, but the people still panicked. Panic drew Grimm, Grimm spread fear, and we're currently under siege by an army of Griffins!"

Her... Her attacks set them off? Why? They had to have seen her run off into the woods, and everyone in Argus was aware of what the Atlas Military could do! They even gave out pamphlets for recruitment! There hadn't even been any danger to them, since Dust fires are more or less incapable of spreading.

"Will you be able to deal with it by yourselves?" It wasn't ideal, but the Colossus wasn't really meant for anti-air anyway. Any attacks she used were just as likely to take out their own ships as not. "Automated defenses should handle a hundred or so on their own, and far more with our support."

"It's not the griffins we're afraid of, ma'am. You remember LV-3, right?" Cordovin nodded, before realizing she couldn't see it and saying 'right'. "If this takes too long, we might draw its attention. We can't spare the forces to retrieve you."

That was... Less than ideal. Try as she might, the Colossus was pinned, and it was only a matter of time before they broke through the shields. She might hit one or two of them in that time, but what are the odds they were dumb enough to have Weiss in range?

More importantly, could she crush the Schnee girl to save herself? She was working with known terrorists- at least two- and had agreed to steal Atlesian property, but the law didn't really matter here. Even if _she _could accept it, Jacques would have her head.

She couldn't leave them to it, either. Even assuming they weren't lying, and did only want to run, it would still be leaving the Colossus or its remains to the White Fang.

There was only really one thing left to do...

"Camille?" There wasn't an answer, but that was fine. She'd hear it on a recording if nothing else. "It seems you're going to be in charge a little longer than expected. Do Atlas proud, in my stead... If you don't, I'll haunt you, alright?" She laughed, but it was weak even to her. "This is goodbye- tell everyone there that it was an honor to work with them. Oh- and send a message to central. I _won't_ die in vain, and they are heading that way. Or should be... Dammit, this isn't coming out right... I'm not one for goodbyes, stubborn old coot that I am. Just... Do better than me, alright? I'll be watching."

She shut off all incoming messages, but left her own running. In turn, the exterior speakers flicked on at a touch.

"Okay..." The finality of that call did little to alleviate the sinking feeling in her stomach, but she was able to ignore it. There was a job to do, and dammit if something as lowly as Death was going to stop her.

Two button presses later, and the cannon began charging again. "I am Caroline Cordovin, Specialist of the Atlas Military, number 184-012." Another two buttons and a small switch brought up the self destruct system. "I have been captured by the enemy, and am unable to resist their forces." She dug up the final button- one masked under a small panel- that asked for her confirmation.

There wasn't a tear going down one eye- if they said there was, they were working for the enemy.

"Hail Atlas."

* * *

Everything hurt.

Ren sighed, but he couldn't hear it over the ringing in his ears. How... Inconvenient.

Briefly checking himself for injuries, he found nothing of note. His clothing was torn in multiple places, but he'd learned to sew long ago, so that wasn't really an issue. A far more significant problem was the whimpering girl beside him.

"Shhh- I got you," he said, in as comforting a tone as he could. While he did, Ren limped over and placed a hand on her shoulder.

His semblance didn't erase pain, but it could help you deal with it- in the same way that distracting a child can help alleviate it. A lack of direct attention let it rest at the back of your mind, as it always had for him.

Why Nora was whimpering was pretty obvious, though thankfully it was something Jaune could fix later. Much like him, bits of shrapnel had impacted her leg, but a particular piece of rock was currently embedded into her shin. That was far worse than anything he'd gotten, though Nora had been several feet behind him at the time.

Keeping a hand on her crouched form, Ren took stock. The forest was _more _destroyed than before, but that wasn't saying much. There was a fancy new crater, larger than the Colossus had been, and a number of elemental bits of waste littered the place. Cluster of ice here, molten slag there, along with a number of seemingly stone trees lying around.

He couldn't see everyone, but that was hardly surprising. He counted four within sight, not counting himself or Nora. Hm... Where were Blake, Weiss, and Jaune? They had been together at the end there, so they could just be behind something at the moment.

All things considered, that could have gone a lot worse. The cryptic words from Cordovin had tipped most of them off a few seconds earlier, which wasn't much, but huntsmen moved quickly. Most of them weren't as fast as Qrow or Ruby- who seemed completely untouched as they checked on Yang- but even Jaune was faster than the average person.

_Though he's still slower than me, _he noted, and it was a sour note. Of all of them, he was the slowest, which was kind of embarrassing when Nora's weapon weighed almost sixty pounds and she had- ironically- the more masculine build. Without proper training, he was also less likely to recognize exactly what Cordovin was doing right away.

And he was the healer, too...

Hauling Nora to her feet, Ren placed an arm around her shoulder and hobbled in the general direction Jaune was supposed to be. The explosion had been centered on the cannon, not the mech itself, so he didn't know exactly where he would have gone; still, he felt confident he could track him dow-

One of the ice blobs shattered outwards, and it was only after the surprise wore off that he realized he'd stepped into it- unconsciously blocking the evidently harmless shards. Huh... That was a new reflex, but one he was completely fine with.

It wasn't hard to guess who it was, even before he made out the white hair of the Schnee heiress. She was untouched by the explosion itself, but was clearly winded from her efforts to protect the other two. Jaune seemed fine, if unsteady on his feet, while Blake looked to have taken the worst of it. Not direct damage, like Nora, but the way she bled from both sets of ears whilst lying unconscious at their feet... A subtle hint.

"Jaune," Ren grunted as he stumbled over. He really wasn't built to carry Nora like this, even without her hammer. "Give us a hand?"

He blinked a few more times, a mix of dumbfounded confusion and horror that couldn't settle on a particular expression. Eventually, though, he came to his senses and ran over.

Taking Nora from him, Jaune laid her out on the ground and got to work. He wasn't a medic, but first aid was a standard part of huntsman education. While taught at prep schools, enough kids got into Beacon without them that Peach still covered it.

Good thing, since he doubted even Jaune could heal Nora if he tore an artery here.

Ren watched in silence as Jaune slowly worked the jagged rock out of her leg. He didn't feel the tension, and his semblance ensured neither of them did either, but Weiss' expression told a very particular story.

And then it was over, with the bloodied stone hitting the dirt as he worked his magic.

"Weiss," Ren said in an attempt to distract her. "You got them away, right?"

She nodded, eyes flicking to her rapier for a moment.

If he had worse control over his expression, he might have smirked at that, but she didn't need his gratitude. She needed a task- something to keep her thoughts off them until each was healed. "Can you go bring everyone else here for me? We need to make a new plan."

Understatement of the century- from him anyway; Ozpin being called suspicious took first place by a longshot. Still, she gave him a fraction of a nod and ran off.

Silence returned for the fourteen seconds- he counted- until Jaune finished. That wasn't quite enough for Weiss to return, but the sounds of footsteps were approaching by the time Ren finally relaxed his semblance.

"Go help Blake," he suggested, earning the two of them some privacy. It wouldn't last long, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Without the aid of his semblance- which he genuinely couldn't keep up forever- recent events were clearly upsetting her.

He couldn't distract her in the same way as Weiss or Jaune, but he could do something a little better. And no, it wasn't just because he wanted to.

Still, when his lips met hers, he wasn't complaining.


	7. Shadow of the Colossus

**WARNING: This Author's note has nothing to do with this story or RWBY. Ignore it if you're only in it for the fanfiction.**

**Just a brief aside- I am currently looking for payed work. I am a graphic artist, game designer, story writer, and voice actor. If you need any work done in those categories, please consider commissioning me.**

**I've tried breaking into all of the above industries, and it's hard enough being seventeen, but my schedule isn't very flexible- hence the above choices. They're all things that can be done over the internet, theoretically at any time.**

**I'm considering opening up a Pay-tree-on (Website names aren't allowed apparently) as well, but I'm pretty sure there are problems with that because of my age. If you would consider pledging to it, message me or review, as I won't be doing it otherwise. ****If you would, also mention in that post what you'd be looking for in rewards. I don't want to just be asking for money, so I do need to offer _something _in return.**

* * *

The sound of the bullhead descending brought silence to the crowd. In the end, the plan didn't really change much. They were expecting a ship, but they were equipped to trek into Atlas from a distance. So long as they disabled any method of tracking the ship and landed far enough away, they'd be fine.

Planning like this came almost naturally to Blake, which wasn't exactly comforting. Still, it was better than the alternative- or, more pressing, the feeling that Adam was watching them.

He had been for a while, actually. He wasn't close- she'd have warned everyone else if he was- but the fact Adam was watching at all had her on edge.

Whatever business he had, it was done- it was time they moved on.

Which is why she had absolutely no shock when that plan went to hell instantly. Before the bullhead even landed, Oscar was at the open door shouting down at them. "Argus is under attack!"

Blake rolled her eyes. Argus was on the coast, in plain view- it was always under attack. That's why it had both an active military and all the defenses money could buy. Anything short of a levi- she dragged the thought into an alley, giving it the 'ol prison shiv treatment. She'd already tempted Fate once, and she wasn't doing it again.

Not that her argument would actually stop them from going. Perhaps the rest of them could be convinced, but there was no way Ruby would just let the attack happen.

And hey, she didn't have a problem with it. Not a real one, anyway- they still had the fastest ship, so they could outrun Argus' forces afterward.

"We're going," Ruby said quietly. In comparison to the bullhead, it was a whisper, but there was no doubt everyone heard it.

She spared one last glance in the direction she sensed Adam. He wasn't moving, even now, and was clearly masking his presence somehow. Good- he was showing some discretion for once.

Blake turned her attention back to the ship. She wasn't hunting him- she'd said as much at Haven- and she proved it by climbing aboard without a word.

* * *

The cockpit shuddered violently as it swerved upward, narrowly avoiding an oncoming griffin. Even then, the air pressure from the Grimm's movement sent the bullhead careening off course.

Jaune was unusually thankful for having an empty stomach.

Trying to keep track of everything in the middle of a dogfight was hardly easy, and the open door was not helping in the slightest. It was only one, thankfully, and those with guns were currently posted at it.

Yang was phantom boxing, each punch blasting a projectile into the distance. They weren't that accurate, but each hit resulted in an instant kill. Ruby was far more precise, and equally deadly, but only fired a fraction of the total shots.

The others... Were not having much like. Weiss had already discarded using her dust projectiles, swapping to the giant hornet thing she'd summoned back at Haven. The Grimm mostly ignored it, which was strange, but then Blake was doing something far more ridiculous.

She hadn't actually taken any damage in the earlier fight, leaving her with a nearly full aura, and she wasn't any good at sniping griffins from the air either. Lacking a ranged semblance, she'd done something far crazier.

Half of her weapon, currently stabbed through the roof of the bullhead from outside, anchored her to the ship. Using the other half- a big cleaver like thing- she repeatedly jumped off, killed something, and then swung back into position.

It was insanity, but insanity he could get behind. Even if she fell, Weiss should be able to catch her. So where was his actual complaint? Beyond the nausea, obviously.

Well, a part of it was how useless he felt. He and Ren were about as useless as Blake at the moment, and while Nora could take a few griffins down with her grenade launcher, it would just be a waste of ammo. There were just too many.

A bigger part- and the thing he felt even more than the motion sickness- was fear. Not for himself, but for those down below. The bullheads, of which they were only one of many, had the Grimm's attention for the moment. If they lost it, though, they would go down below and kill countless people.

Prior to Beacon, _maybe _he could have taken on a creep. With his full gear, a juvenile Beowulf perhaps. These things, though? There was a reason Huntsman needed both Aura infused strikes and powerful weapons- the Grimm were tough. Little more than corded muscle and bone, making the stronger variants more or less immune to normal weapons.

And they could descend on civilians, just like he'd been, including...

He shook his head. That wouldn't- couldn't- happen. Grimm were monstrous beings of hate and anger, but they weren't stupid. The airships were a threat, and so would be the primary targets. So long as nothing truly terrifying came around, they'd be fine.

Jaune paused, giving Fate a moment to ruin his and everyone elses' day. Nothing seemed to happen, though- a sharp turn notwithstanding.

"Whew," he sighed.

It was quickly overwhelmed.

**_ROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR!_**

The sound, if it could even be called that, ripped through the air like a million tiny blades. Even hundreds of meters away, the bullhead shook in the air, while anything with the misfortune to be closer was torn from the sky entirely.

Combat ceased, with both Grimm and airship alike pausing in recognition of the massive creature. Or, at least, the impossible power it had. It's _voice _made the Colossus' explosion look like a firecracker by comparison, and the sound was followed by something altogether more terrifying.

A torrent of flame, easily the width of most houses, turned the sky itself an off shade of orange. Without a target in mind, the... The _thing _just blasted the clouds themselves.

Or, what used to be clouds. There weren't any left by the time it finally closed its maw.

From the relative safety of the airship, Jaune watched in horror as the living mountain's gaze passed over them. For a moment, its massive red eyes seemed to pierce through his own, but it passed, settling on a different target.

Not even Ren's semblance- already placed over anyone within reach- was enough to prevent his curse. "Fuck," he summarized brilliantly as its victim became clear- Argus.

That was the second time he'd sworn, in his entire life, and it somehow didn't feel like enough.

Jaune was thrust back into his seat as the bullhead suddenly dove. It wasn't alone- the entire fleet began a full scale retreat once the terrified awe wore off. The Grimm had no such issues, and continued to 'march' on Argus with mindless determination.

And then the beast moved- a single step forward- which was enough to flood the beach in seconds.

_How is anything supposed to fight that thing..._

They had the fastest ship, and were obviously going at full speed, yet it had no problems keeping pace. It's legs moved slowly, relative to its size, but the sheer distance each step covered more than made up for it.

Size wise, it wasn't actually that much larger than the Colossus, but there were two key differences. Probably most importantly- it wasn't hollow on the inside. Every interior inch of the several hundred foot beast was comparable to the steel of the mech. The other...

It didn't have a shield.

That might sound like a disadvantage, but the shield was there because the Colossus needed one. This thing didn't- and unlike the shield, they couldn't stab it a million times to kill it.

Even if they knocked it down- which wouldn't even work until it got on land, since it could clearly swim just fine- how would they actually kill it? Grimm didn't have vital organs, so at best they could blind the damn thing. Fat lot of good leaving it to thrash in the middle of a city would do.

Was this what being calm was like? He'd rather be terrified right now, to be honest. At least then, when he inevitably died, he'd at least have something to blame other than the absolute overkill they were currently matched up against.

_How did humanity even face these things before the use of dust!? _The simple answer, as morbid as it is, was that they didn't. If it appeared, they died.

Wait... If that was the case, Salem could have just made more of these things and nothing else. That would have been an easy way to kill everyone, right? Ozpin can't revive if everyone else is dead, too, so she shouldn't have any reason _not _to do that.

Unless they were missing something.

"Blake!" he shouted, even if it wasn't strictly necessary. "You said that you and Adam had a plan for the Colossus- would it work on... On that," he said, gesturing pointlessly towards the living mountain outside.

Her eyes widened slightly before narrowing. Unfortunately, it wasn't in thought.

"No." He didn't even hear the whispered denial, but the utter defeat in it was clear from her face. "Rhode's Quake relied on the dust cannon- and it firing lightning Dust specifically- and Adam's semblance. We have neither."

He growled, in the moment before Ren wiped it away. Jaune gave him a small smile in thanks. It was a weak gesture, but the two of them could keep the group safe thanks to-

Jaune blinked, realization coming over him.

They were missing something- something the Grimm never had, but which humanity would have had for centuries: semblances. In this case, one in particular.

Next thing he knew, Jaune was already inside the cockpit, ordering them back to the newly barren forest. Adam would have left by then, but then they were huntsman. It was time for him to finally hunt something.


	8. Bullheaded

**I actually wrote this entire chapter four times over, trying to decide who the perspective character would be. 8000 words later, and here we are.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

Finding Adam was a lot easier than any of them expected. They'd found one another only a minute or so outside the city limits.

Not that their meeting went well...

Qrow rubbed at his temple with one hand, easing the pain as he cycled his Aura. They'd been caught by surprise, and while he'd reacted in time to bring his Aura up, it hadn't been quite fast enough.

Red eyes scanned the rubble. The bullhead hadn't survived- exploding in midair from Adam's first attack- and it had actually done more damage than Cordovin's self destruct. It was a weaker explosion, by far, but they'd been _inside _of it. Just his luck.

Cracking his neck, Qrow raised Harbinger in Adam's direction. He didn't attack, though. Couldn't risk the chance he'd lose here, especially when they still needed him for the Leviathan.

And imagine, that was the generous assumption. If Adam had _known _they were inside the bullhead...?

The terrorist was poised, watching them calmly with his blade drawn, but he wasn't making any aggressive motions. That didn't mean much, with how fast huntsmen could move, but it hinted at his intentions if nothing else. It could be a ruse, but Qrow needed the moment anyway to check on everyone else.

He heard pained sounds from a few, and he could see some still forms from his periphery. No lost limbs or the like, thankfully, but he couldn't exactly check beyond that without properly turning his back to Adam. With his Aura as low as it was... That was suicide.

"We were looking for you," Qrow said, more to fill time than anything else. He'd actually been opposed to the plan, and for good reason, but it was entirely possible that it was too late to back out already. "The kid said you had a plan to take down a Colossus- any chance it could work on something bigger?"

Adam's mask did its job, masking his reaction to the words, but his head did tilt up just a little. Curiosity? Dammit... He was used to using peoples eyes to cold read. Still, he _did _react, which was good news since it meant he was communicable.

"Blake told you, I presume?"

"Kinda..." Qrow returned. She hadn't had the chance to, until far too late, and Jaune had actually preempted it. Still, it was better to say that then 'your plans were literally guessed by a seventeen-year-old civilian.' Somehow, he didn't imagine that going well. "Argus is currently under attack by a Leviathan. With the Colossus destroyed, they don't really have a shot of winning."

And man, did that fact hurt. They hadn't wanted to destroy it- and had tried to avoid doing so- but they had been responsible for it. Since the panic that drew it in was from their battle too, they really were the ones responsible.

Or he was... Even beyond his semblance, he'd been the one to alert Cordovin to Adam- and that had been why she firebombed the whole forest. At least there was the hope that, with Adam, they could-

"And I should care about that, why?"

Qrow's eyes narrowed dangerously, as little threat as that seemed to mean to the now-smiling terrorist. Of course Adam wouldn't care; destroying the lives of innocent people was literally his job. He, and the rest of them, had been deluding themselves into believing he would be a better person.

He squared himself, blade held before him in a slight diagonal. Even with potential backup, the sheer difference in available Aura was gonna make this fight complicated. He couldn't even use his scythe, as its defensive options were comparatively limited and he could easily lose in a single well placed attack. He took a breath.

And promptly leapt twelve feet to the left when an arm planted itself on his shoulder.

His heart rate tripled- if not more- Qrow _glared _at Ruby. Adam hadn't moved, thankfully, but that single moment of surprise could easily have meant his death- and everyone elses, as a consequence. He didn't say anything, though, and instead watched with bated breath. He'd need to intervene if it came to blows, but just maybe she could help.

"You should care." Adam opened his mouth, as if to repeat his earlier question, but she raised a hand to stop him. "You should care because thousands of innocent people are going to die."

Adam, unable to show that he was rolling his eyes, rolled his head instead. "I realized. You don't get to my position while being an idiot. Wars have casualties, and the one between humans and faunus has more than most. Argus is an entirely human city, both funded and run by Atlas. I have no stake in their lives."

"You don't?" Ruby asked rhetorically. "How inspiring would the image be of a faunus saving thousands in a display of power comparable to the might of Atlas' greatest weapon?"

Qrow eyes narrowed again. He got what she was doing- trying to convince him to help- and that wasn't even a bad way to go about it on its own. But giving them propaganda fuel like that? It could easily revive the White Fang, and so soon after they'd finally fractured the organization...

If nothing else, Adam seemed open to the idea. He stroked his chin with his free hand, and tilted his head to the side slightly- both signs of consideration. "I can see the value in that, I suppose. However, the renown would be better the later I arrived, as the futility of Atlas and the desperation of the people would be at their peak. I'm going to guess that's not what you want."

"No," Ruby chirped, giving him her best 'I won' smile. "But then you can't even do it without us."

"Explain." A single word, utterly devoid of the emotion present in his earlier words.

Ruby didn't even react to that. "We know about your semblance- your ability to absorb attacks to empower a single strike. Blake told us about it, and... And Yang experienced it first hand." She became quiet, turning back to look at her sister. Yang was unconscious at the moment, but he could see the rise and fall of her chest. "You use your sword to absorb the attack, right?" He nodded, since it wasn't exactly a secret. "How are you gonna block anything powerful enough to strike down the Leviathan when the only available attack- its firebreath- is bigger than our entire bullhead?"

Qrow blinked. She was right- assuming the entirety of the world hadn't got Adam's semblance entirely wrong, which was hard to believe with Blake of all people agreeing with it. And wait, hadn't Blake said something about the original plan needing the Colossus to use lightning Dust? He could block the bolt with his blade, but would have no such option with any of the other Dust types.

How the ability would interact with Jaune's semblance, he couldn't know, but the exact mechanics didn't matter at all if Adam never got them to agree- which basically meant completing the plan as soon as possible and without any extra demands.

Adam wouldn't even really have the option to stab them in the back afterwards, since they'd be in Argus. Without the Leviathan wreaking havoc, the military would be only too happy to come assist them.

It was perfect. All they needed was for him to accept...

Qrow watched him carefully, trying to judge his reaction. He wasn't alone in that, either. Everyone who was still awake- which he noted at least Weiss and Blake- joined in. The mask got in the way, yet again, but Adam actually saw fit to solve that particular problem.

Unlatching the white material from his horns, he let the mask fall away.

One blue and one gray eye met Ruby's silver. She'd taken a step back, a mixture of shock and horror on her face, and she wasn't alone. He'd been like that- had been, back when he'd seen the branding the first time. This was worse, but...

It was a mark for the SDC mines. It was normally placed on the wrist, and identified the employees- or former employees- from the rest. It wasn't a tattoo, which he could theoretically get behind, but an actual brand burned into place. It wasn't hard to guess what that would do to someone, applied over one eye.

They thought of it too. The tears streaming down Ruby's face, even as she kept her voice silent through force of will, made her thoughts clear. Weiss was considerably more stoic, as was Blake, but for different reasons.

Weiss' hands were balled into fists at her side, and occasionally shook despite herself. Blake, meanwhile, looked like she'd simply seen it before. There was sympathy there, buried in her attempt to mask her emotions, but he was sure Adam could see it as well.

And he... He didn't actually feel anything strongly. Remnant was a cruel world, to those outside the kingdoms- people did terrible things in pursuit of security, or even just the feeling of it. When panic and fear lead to death, it was almost a necessity.

So Qrow turned back to Adam, meeting his eyes without difficulty. It was... Strange that he would bring it out now, but Adam clearly had a reason for it. The man was even kind enough to tell them.

"I was born into a mining family," he began, panning his gaze over the group. More were awake now, and still more were rising. "By the time I was six, I was digging. I didn't even know why until much later, as the pay was so minuscule that my parents couldn't afford anything else. Years passed, and my father eventually became ill, dying shortly after of an easily preventable disease. An awakened Aura, or a few pills, and he would have been fine, but he received neither."

"Shortly after, my mother attempted to take me and leave to Menagerie. It was a new place at the time- unsettled for the most part- but she explained how it was a city of opportunity where we could live outside the heel of Atlas. I didn't escape, though. They sent huntsmen after us, and I simply wasn't fast enough to get out. When I was returned to my 'owners', well..." he gestured pointlessly to his ruined eye. "I only found out as an adult that my mother made it to Menagerie safely."

Ruby nodded slowly. "Were you mad that she left you behind to live a better life without you?"

"He isn't finished," Blake interjected.

"She isn't wrong, though. For a while, I did feel that anger, but I eventually did escape the mines with some help from the White Fang. I then asked to be sent to Menagerie, to find my mother, fully intent on berating her for leaving me behind." He paused. "Thing is, my mother wasn't there. She had arrived, but there's a history to Menagerie most people don't know. When you take hundreds of people from all walks of life and leave them to fend for themselves in a hostile environment, it doesn't go very well. She'd been killed in a mugging mere weeks after arrival."

Adam patiently waited for their reactions to still before continuing. "Menagerie has developed since then, with a lot of help from the Belladonna family, but that wasn't enough. World wide, Faunus are _still _being oppressed, and it was even worse back then since they didn't even have cause to fear us. I was weak, but I took up the sword and dedicated my life to the cause."

"Why are you telling us this?"

Ruby had asked Adam, but it was Blake who answered. "He's saying the world needs the White Fang... Instead of him joining us, he's asking for us to aid him."

Aid the White Fang? Qrow mulled it over, giving the decision the time it deserved. He had actually helped them in the past, back before they'd become a true terrorist organization. He hadn't sought out to do so, of course, but he would occasionally run into them while doing odd jobs for Ozpin. If they had a more direct role, they could even shape the organization.

But that would require them to dedicate too much time to it. They'd have to give up the quest to take down Salem.

Actually...

"Hey, Adam." The terrorist glanced Qrow's way. "We, uh... Have a story to tell you."


	9. The Salem Witch Trial

**Sorry this one took so long. There was no good reason for it- unlike the others; I just procrastinated. Still, it's here, and I hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

It was strange, having someone else recant your past. When Jinn did it, she displayed events as they actually happened, whereas none of them could do the same. Perhaps Salem could have, using her well of magic power, but she wouldn't have any reason to do so. In truth, he didn't either. All that knowing of Salem's existence would do is lead more sheep to her flock, while drawing the Grimm in through the hopelessness of it all.

Defeating her was a dream he'd long since given up on. She wasn't invulnerable- he'd proven as much with his magic, bomb vests, and in collapsing her first tower upon her sleeping form. The latter was special, since it should have buried her body beneath the rubble, but she'd simply reformed outside of it.

"Eventually, Ozma died of natural causes- but while he was still fairly young. Salem thought it was unfair, and beseeched the God of Light for his aid. He... Declined, stating that the balance of life and death was important." Qrow glanced towards Oscar, the meaning behind it clear. "Of course, it's clear he didn't really care that much about it. I won't say I understand him, but the yellow bastard said he had good reason for it."

Yeah... After all these years, that was still one thing he never understood. He refused to bring him back, and directly prevented his brother from doing so, but then did something even more extreme with _both _he and Salem anyway. He'd have called him out as a hypocrite if he hadn't said no to Salem the first time.

"After gaining immortality, as some not-really-punishment for her hubris or something, she allied with a number of human kingdoms. With their aid, she took the battle to the gods, and promptly lost. Horribly. Offended by the attempt, they killed everyone present- besides Salem, yet again for no good reason- and left."

"Ooh!" Ruby jumped in. "The God of Darkness blew up the moon then, too."

_And this is why Summer gave the reports for your team... _As reliable as Qrow was, as a whole, he really needed to work on his storytelling. Even Port was better, at least in effort.

Adam was clearly skeptical, though he'd looked like that from the beginning. Oscar couldn't see the signs as well as he, even with the terrorists mask removed, but the child had still seen it. Perhaps Adam was so used to a mask that he didn't feel the need to hide the emotion in his eyes.

Just like many before him, he wanted proof, but there was also a twinge of fear in the way his hand tightened on his sword. If they weren't lying- which they weren't- all that telling them the tale would do is crush his spirits. Adam, horrible man though he may be, clearly wasn't a fool. He could understand the ramifications of Qrow's explanation.

"And why is this relevant to us now...?"

Qrow raised a hand, forestalling his argument. "I was getting to that. Salem survived, obviously, but she wanted to join Ozma in the afterlife- apparently unaware that he'd been revived literally the same day. She tried to kill herself by tossing herself into... Think of it as a tar pit that spawns Grimm. Anyway, she survived it because- you know- immortal, but it gave her control over Grimm and... You know, I don't actually know if it did drive her mad, since she _was _able to have a family with Ozpin afterwards..."

"What?" Adam demanded, voice growing increasingly agitated. "Just get to the point already!"

Strangely, Ozpin was in agreement. As important as the story was, it was only a waste of t- oh. That was the point, wasn't it? But why would he want to delay?

He wasn't at liberty to look around, since Oscar was focused on Adam, but Ozpin still took stock of the situation. He was causing a delay for something, which was presumably with the group, which only left the people who were down.

Miss Xiao Long? Certainly, she'd have the most reservations about working with Adam, but that was all the more reason to do this quickly. The greater good was more important than her revenge, and the Leviathan wouldn't stop with just Argus anyway. His memory wasn't the best- as tended to happen to people after a thousand years- but he knew there were other frontier towns within sight range of something that tall. It needed to be dealt with.

But then... That was their mistake to make, wasn't it? For a millennia, he'd had his chance to end the Grimm threat, and yet here they were. It was time he went to sleep... Yes, that would be nice. He couldn't die, so long as humanity still persisted, but that was close enough.

_Good luck, Oscar._

There was definitely a reply to that, somewhere, but Ozpin contented himself with never hearing it.

* * *

A groan was already escaping her lips when Yang came to. More than the pain, which wasn't that bad all told, there was the physical exhaustion weighing down on her. She'd been knocked out plenty of times before, and you weren't supposed to be down for more than a minute or two, but Aura normally got you up sooner than that.

Shame she was running empty, then.

Rubbing at the sore spot in her left shoulder, Yang cracked open her eyes. _What happened? _She remembered the explosion, if vaguely, but nothing beyond that. Come to think of it, they'd need a new bullhead too wouldn't they? The metal chunks strewn about was a bit of a hint.

There was a voice, too. She struggled to hear it, but was able to blink awkwardly in its direction for a moment before the source came into view. _Oh hey, it's Qrow. _He was facing away from her, talking to someone she couldn't see. Given that she recognized everyone else- from their colors schemes, more than anything else- it was someone outside the group. Help? That'd be nice.

"... gather the four relics, the gods will return and judge humanity. If they find us lacking..." _Ah, that... _She had some serious questions for Ozpin, if he'd ever return- or hell, she'd just as soon ask Salem directly. She had to be able to talk; how else would she be able to gain followers?

With practiced ease, Yang let Qrow's droning voice fall to the back of her awareness and stood. She groaned again, as her back popped, as she finally hauled herself to her feet.

Everyone else seemed fine, more or less. Good- she didn't have to hunt down the one responsible just yet.

"Ah, you're awake."

Yang glanced back towards Qrow, who was smiling a bit weakly in her direction. Yeah, she probably looked like shit, but thanks for being subtle about it. "Morning, Uncle Qrow." It lacked the casual air she was used to, but sue her- everything hurt. "What happened?"

Rather than answer directly, Qrow took a step to the side.

Raising an eyebrow, she turned from him to the person he was talking to. He was tall- above six feet, at a guess- and would have actually had a pretty handsome face if not for the brand over one eye. The untouched one was a piercing blue, that reminded her strangely of Taiyang. That's where the similarities ended, though, as he was neither blond nor overly tanned.

The man wore a black combat suit, vaguely reminiscent of what Qrow wore before Beacon, which had a number of zippers standing out against the dark fabric. At his side, he had a sheathe, which presumably went with the sword in his other hand.

She paused on that, staring at the blade for a moment. It seemed familiar... Had she fought him before? That thought seemed to click, and she scanned him again for any obvious features. Something she'd remember.

Her seemed to recognize her, if nothing else. Hm...

Gaze slipping lower, Yang latched onto a splash of white on the floor. It was a... A Grimm mask?

_"... starting with her."_

Yang recoiled, drawing several steps back even as Ember Celica deployed over her in-tact arm. They didn't fire, though- couldn't, with how much they were shaking as she stared at him.

He looked so different without the mask, but then that was the point. His power, and his bloodlust, though? Even calm as he appeared, she could see the almost relaxed air with which he poised himself before them.

Adam...

"Cool it, firecracker," Qrow ordered, raising both hands in an attempt to console her. What? Why would she _ever _do that around _him!?_ "I wanted you awake for this, but we do still need his help."

Yang's eyes, already turned red, narrowed at him. "You expect HIM to help US!? Have you all gone mad!?" Her glare narrowed on him- the source of all of her problems. Without the... The _monster_ before her, Beacon would still be standing. Cinder would have had no chance at succeeding, without the White Fang. "He attacked us, cut off my arm, and took untold innocent lives. I can't believe you'd even _consider _working with him."

Adam was unfazed by her words, which only pissed her off more. "I didn't want to work for Cinder. I rejected her initial offer, and only accepted after she returned with power enough to kill both me and my men."

"And we're just supposed to believe that?" Yang watched everyone expressions, judging their reactions.

To her mounting horror, Blake shook her head. "He's right- I was there. This was before..." she gestured vaguely towards Adam. "But he didn't want to involve the White Fang in that."

Growling, she glared at Adam. "Fat lot of good that regret does when you attack anyway! I stayed behind long enough to hear the reports- more than a four thousand dead, and many more injured or swept up by the resulting surge of starvation."

Adam actually flinched at that, the first reaction he'd had to her words. "That's a rather high number... We only attacked Beacon and Amity directly- it was to be a show of force, to topple the seat of power when the most people were watching. How could... The Atlas machines?"

Yang was about to answer, but stopped just short. She... Didn't actually know where those casualties had come from, specifically. But then, "it doesn't matter. You and Cinder were still the cause, and it's not like you showed _me _any mercy." Red eyes met Blakes for a brief moment, before returning to his. "Nor would you have shown any to the rest of us."

A sigh escaped his lips. "I'm not sure how you're expecting me to answer you. I was in a war- you were my enemy- and Blake's presence made it personal." Adam lifted his blade, staring at the crimson metal. "However, I _did _show you mercy."

She blinked.

"Do you think it would be that hard to aim slightly higher? Hit the neck?" He let his sword arm fall back to his side. "Even after that, do you think I would have struggled to hunt a crippled Blake with a hundred pounds of baggage?"

He went silent, letting the points sink in.

She didn't break the silence either. What did she say to that? _I..._

Yang nearly jumped- would have, if not for the hand holding her own. _Blake? _

* * *

Qrow watched with a slight smile as Yang was dragged away from the confrontation. She needed to get past her hangups, but that would need time.

That didn't make the glare he gave Adam when she _was _gone any less venomous. Yang might not have meant much to him, but he needed to watch his words. If not for the fact they needed him, Qrow might have intervened already, but nothings ever that simple.

Without skipping a beat, Adam turned to him. "So, long story short, you're planning on gathering powerful individuals and weapons to challenge an immortal."

_Just like a terrorist to ignore everything that just happened... No wonder Blake left him. _"It's a little more complex than that, but yeah. Can we rely on your aid?"

"No."

Harbinger rose up. "Come again?"

"I'll deal with the Leviathan," Adam was quick to add, "but I won't be working with you against Salem. I've dedicated my life to ending oppression; I won't trade the Schnee for a far worse tyrant. With her gone, Ozpin would have little reason to hesitate in bringing them back- and that's generously assuming none of this is a lie."

Qrow lowered his weapon.

"Deal."


	10. Blasphemy

**I had a debate with myself whether to use Adam or Qrow's perspective in this first bit. It was actually hard to settle, since both perspectives lend themselves well to character building, but I feel a lot of time would be wasted if I attempted to do both.**

**Eventually, I chose Adam simply because Qrow has 4+ more volumes to get characterized by the actual show. Seeing as Adam is dead... Don't really see that happening.**

**Granted, I have an entire story that features a guy for two chapters at the end, he dies, and then an entire book would be dedicated to all the shit he did, but I can't see that either. From what I've seen of Rooster Teeth, they don't like dramatically changing the context of a character after their death. Usually it's seconds _before _that death.**

**A shame the brand meant nothing to that version of Adam, then.**

* * *

Black flesh parted with ease.

As powerful as the griffons were, Wilt never so much as slowed as it carved through the teeming mass. Argus was overrun with the things- to a degree that astonished even him. He'd seen towns crumble to the Grimm before, but not even Vale had been quite like this.

Another stride forward, another slash, and his Moonslice charged a little further. It was unfortunate, but there wasn't anything on hand to charge it up. Not unless he wanted to die from a torrent of flames, anyway.

He ignored the blonde's suggestion.

The rest of the pack moved behind him, keeping out of his way while guarding his flank. They didn't want to stay as backup, but had to concede that their Auras just were high enough to risk in battle. Some- those who stayed in the middle- didn't even have it up.

In his defense, he didn't know it was their bullhead when he tore it from the sky. Bare minimum, he wouldn't have wanted to blow Blake into smithereens. A shame, then, that she was still glaring daggers in his direction. Yeah- he blew her friends up- big deal. Not like they hadn't done far worse to each other in training.

Training in using Aura to heal wounds- potentially fatal ones, at that- required you to actually be injured. The number of times he'd been stabbed through? Uncountable.

Idly batting aside the paw of an Ursa with one hand, Adam cracked its mask inward with his hilt. Blunt force actually charged his semblance faster- a factor many overlooked, given the nature of the weapon. There wasn't a lot of force actually applied to the blade when you could cleave through your foes with ease.

Honestly, this whole ordeal was more tedious than anything. Jaune had been a man of his word, and he could feel the young mans Aura empowering his own. As a happy consequence, he was running around while effectively invulnerable. It was like playing one of those video games with all the cheats on- a slog born from the fact that nothing offered a challenge.

The sound of footfalls drew his gaze right, but the volume wasn't quite right for Grimm. Sure enough, it was a pair of civilians, who promptly stopped their approach when they met his eyes- through his mask, which was probably the bigger concern.

Self preservation won out in the end, and they still came forward, but they took refuge in the group behind him.

That's where his attention ended. There needed to be survivors, obviously, but the specifics mattered little to him.

"Saph!"

Adam glanced back towards Jaune- not because of his shout, but the fact that he'd cut off his semblance and ran. Did he see someone he knew? He didn't see anyone... Maybe they ran past the street elsewhere?

Odds weren't good on that front. Despite how little the Grimm meant to _him, _even a Beowulf was a tough task for a civilian. With modern guns, they had decent odds, but the corpses they'd already passed spoke volumes about how few people the military had armed.

Once more, Adam looked up to the Leviathan. It was on the other side of the city for the moment, but that didn't mean a whole lot. With its size, it could get anywhere in Argus in seconds, and Adam was fast enough to do the same.

A growl sounded to his left, and was promptly silenced without him even looking the Ursa's way. Without Jaune on hand, charging his semblance this way was too inefficient...

_This is what I get for agreeing to help children. _Sighing to himself, he cut a swathe through a pair of oncoming Griffins before following after the idiot. Once they found this 'Saph' person, they could get back to work.

* * *

Dammit... How could he have forgotten!? He'd spoken with her _that day_, yet his sister had still slipped his mind amidst the chaos. If she-

No. She was alive- he'd make sure of it. She lived far enough from the coast... Bare minimum, the Leviathan wouldn't have gotten to her. With enough warning to get to a shelter, she should be safe from the smaller Grimm too.

He still had to make sure.

An Ursa turned its head at his approach, but he didn't bother with it. In the moment it hesitated, he slipped past, and he could hear the sound of Adam cleaving through it a moment later.

Skidding to a stop at the next intersection, Jaune checked each road. Road signs had been destroyed at easily as buildings, making identifying any of the actual landmarks difficult at best. Thankfully, down one road, he saw the pedestal with Pyrrha's statue.

Or, rather, what used to be Pyrrha's statue. The stone around it was cracked, with the bronze construct itself cut off at the shin.

As much as the image hurt, he ignored the feeling in place of its value in the moment. Since the feet were still in place, he could figure out where he was right now. Given that it was an emergency, the holograms to announce shelter locations was active, and it took only a moment to figure out where the closest one to Saph's house was.

Glancing back to confirm that everyone else was still with him, Jaune broke off into a sprint. They could catch up later- he had a job to do.

A Beowulf pack threw themselves in his way. Just as they lunged for him, he lept forward as well- using the face of the nearest one as a stepping stone to skip right past them.

His landing wasn't perfect- he landed on some rubble from some demolished storefront- but Jaune managed to catch himself on all fours and push himself back into a run. The Beowulves didn't even attempt pursuit; they were much too busy mildly inconveniencing Adam with their momentary existence.

Somewhere down the road, it was covered in enough rubble to bar his path, so Jaune simply smashed his way through the front door of a nearby apartment building. Simply running down another hall and passing through a missing wall, he was on another road which had an open path.

There were Grimm, of course, but they weren't looking his way. It wasn't hard to guess why, either.

Target in sight, Jaune dashed forward. Adam beat him to it- blurring forward and carving straight through the teeming mass.

He didn't get them all, obviously; however, the gap was enough for Jaune to slip through- cutting through any Grimm dumb enough to try and stop him. They weren't alone on the other side, either. Four Atlas soldiers and a staff wielding huntsman were churning through black flesh like it was going out of season.

While he might not have been comfortable leaving Adam against the horde by himself, the six of them seemed to be doing just fine. The numbers were a bit of a problem, but another seven huntsman were pulling up the rear. They'd be fine.

That in mind, instead of fighting himself, Jaune lept down the entire stairwell in a single bound. Slipping in the open vault door, he was met with the underground shelter.

"Saph!" he shouted, scanning the interior for the familiar shade of blonde. Unfortunately, with over two hundred people there, he didn't find her.

Fortunately, she found him, and his eldest sister came forward with Adrian in her arms. "Jaune?"

There was no transition. One moment, he was meeting her gaze, and the next his arms were wrapped around her in the closest he could manage to one of Nora's hugs. "I'm sorry... About all of this."

Saph was surprised, but took it in stride. With her free arm, she hugged him back. "What have _you _got to apologize for? Besides running away to Beacon," she corrected, glaring at him for a brief moment. "It's not like you summon Grimm or something."

Jaune thought of Qrow briefly, but dismissed it just as quickly. His semblance wasn't _that _ridiculous, right? No- this was their fault a tad more directly. "I... We may have, actually..."

The amusement in her expression promptly vanished. "Your sense of humor sucks."

He saw the out for what it was, but... "You saw the Colossus run off, right?" She nodded, which was a little awkward when they were still hugging. "Well, it was, uh... sent after us. Seeing as we aren't currently smears across the forest floor..."

Blue eyes blinked at him uncomprehendingly.

"You... It..." She broke away from him and took a step back, utterly dumbfounded. Her shock was short lived, replaced instead by mounting horror. "You destroyed the Colossus!?"

Jaune winced. The volume of her shout hurt, but he was more concerned with-

"You did what!?" Panic spread like wildfire, and the accusations accompanied the sudden spike in fear. Children huddled in corners or clutched at their parents, all the while the news spread to the few people who hadn't heard the initial outburst.

_Ooh..._

He wasn't much of a huntsman, all told, but the nature of Grimm was common knowledge. They would flock to negativity like moths to a flame, and with a few hundred _extra _frightened people in one spot...

Jaune raised his hands, struggling to have his words heard over the crowd. "We have another solution! Don't worry- we can take the Leviathan down!"

A few people seemed to calm at that, but not nearly enough. Odds are, most didn't even hear him.

Son of a bitch.

He wasn't going to calm them down- it just wasn't feasible. What would he say? Say _Adam Taurus _was gonna cut it in half? Without a name, they most wouldn't believe him at the best of times.

So he didn't continue to try. With another quick apology to Saph, Jaune sprinted back up the stairs.

* * *

Adam took a deep breath. No matter how trivial the Grimm were to kill, their numbers were enough to exhaust even him. He wasn't alone, though, which gave him a moment to recoup.

Jaune and the two civilians they picked up were still down there, though he obviously didn't expect the latter to return. The shelters were two dozen feet underground, entirely made of concrete and steel, and thereby inaccessible to Grimm beyond the main entrance. That too would be difficult, thought not impossible, to break through. Unless the Leviathan fell over on top of them or something, the shelters were the safest places in town.

Hopefully Saph, whoever that was, retreated below. The sooner Jaune found them, the sooner they could get back on track. His moonslice was still charging from battle, obviously, but it was slow. For something that large...

Adam paused, instincts sounding in his head. Something was wrong- or more wrong than an entire city being wiped from existence.

People often attributed his superior senses to his faunus heritage, but that wasn't the case. He trained them, almost to the same degree as Blake, and the way her ears stood at attention said she sensed the same thing.

Closing his eyes- which he could thankfully do with others protecting him- he focused in his hearing. He heard howls of Grimm, grunts of exertion, the clash of steel on bone or flesh, and the sound of someone running up the stairs behind him. Jaune, most likely.

Nothing suspicious... Was something missing?

He whipped around, eyes snapping open in realization.

_It_ was staring at them.

Not rampaging, not attacking, nor even preparing its breath attack. It simply stood there- the relative silence of it having set him off- and watched.


	11. Gods Don't Bleed

**Someone posted another one of those 'you get three wishes to a douchebag genie' things on Quora, and I thought I'd actually take a spin at it for once. Tell me if you can find any holes in this one.**

**I wish that, for all intents and purposes besides semantic reasoning, the word 'Alvadeer' was identical to the word 'Wish'.**  
**I wish the rule preventing me from wishing for more wishes only applied to the word 'Wish', and not any similar equivalents.**  
**I wish for three additional Alvadeers to be provided by you to myself in the same manner as the first three wishes I have already requested.**  
**I Alvadeer that wishes and Alvadeers granted to myself were unable to have consequences that I would not have approved of, knowing the full ramifications and results subject to those wishes.**  
**I Alvadeer that I were able to grant an unlimited number of wishes or Alvadeers to others or myself freely, without the consequences inherent to becoming a genie or other mythological or fantastical creature.**  
**I Alvadeer that you and all other wish granting entities beside myself ceased to exist, though the remnants of their previously granted wishes and Alvadeers would persist.**

**Thus far, no one has succeeded, and I'm curious if any of you will. Good luck with that.**

**On an unrelated note, I considered killing Adam with the Leviathan here- to stick with the canon of him being dead- but isn't the whole point of this to fix the mistakes in RWBYs writing? I'm not perfect by any means, and I'm sure there's a ton of new mistakes I'm adding, but none so mindbogglingly huge as killing off the single best villain on the cast after ruining their character.**

**So... He's alive, and gonna live. Obviously he'd die at some point in the series- probably in the last two volumes- but not now. Not in that way.**

**Given that, I hope you enjoy him kicking some ass.**

* * *

"Schnee," Adam barked, staring the girl down. "Change of plans- something set it off and it knows we're here. You can use time glyphs, right?"

She blinked twice in obvious confusion. "How would you know-"

"You already know why I know," he interjected quickly. They didn't have time for pointless chatter. "Can you use them?" A nod. "Jaune- hook her up. You're going to stop its breath attack, condensing the energy for me... We're only going to get one shot at this."

Jaune, who'd already done as requested by placing his hands on the Schnee's shoulders, looked at him curiously. "Why would we only get one chance?"

Adam growled- did these huntsman really learn _nothing _in that academy of theirs? "It's intelligent- smarter than any of us. The only reason we get a chance in the first place is that it doesn't know what we can do. If it did..." He left that unsaid, instead turning to the beast itself. It was still watching them, but a hint of orange light escaped through small gaps in its teeth. "Hold out on that glyph until it opens fire."

Thank Oum that they actually listened to him. With the possible exception of the drunkard, he had the most battle experience, and they seemed to realize that.

"Will... Will my glyph stand up against that kind of attack?" Adam sighed. Of course they were having doubts- and he couldn't exactly boost their morale the same way he did the Fang. "I mean, you can cut through them with your sword. No offense, but-"

"It'll be fine," he interrupted again, turning back to the beast in question. "After all, it won't be taking the hit directly. It'll be frozen before force is applied." He'd found that out the hard way. Time manipulation was a frighteningly common tactic among huntsman, and had all kinds of horrific perks.

The sound of its attack reached them slightly before the flames themselves, but they didn't land. A dozen or so feet up, a pale gold glyph sprung to life with the white visage of a clock face over the top of it. The hands were moving at the time, but slowed until reaching an eventual stop.

It was bigger than necessary, though he didn't say anything. That was better than the alternative.

A torrent of hellfire rained down upon it, but didn't so much as crack the still surface of the glyph. Unyielding and immobile, it stood to block the entire stream- only stopping because the Leviathan saw what they were doing and cut off.

No matter. That should be enough.

The Leviathan moved to break the glyph, but Adam was faster. Before it could even take a step, he'd launched up into the air and swung Wilt out before him.

Shattering the glyph with a normal strike would have just bathed him in the attack as before, so he didn't. Aura coursed through his blade, empowering the charge already present within it, until the sky itself ran red with the blow.

The glyph didn't shatter. It vanished, each piece of it wiped away as easily as the fire behind it- all absorbed into the crimson edge of his sword.

* * *

Color returned to the world as seamlessly as always, but Blake could still see the difference in Adam. His eyes glowed a deep crimson, while Aura burned across his clothing like a living flame. Those spread along his clothing, coating the normally white designed sewn into them, all the while he radiated sheer fury.

His semblance, as with many others, was tied to his Aura- an expression of his soul. Aura, when manifested, bared the feelings and thoughts of the wielder for all the world to see, even if it took some interpretation. That, among other reasons, was why not everyone got theirs awakened- it drew Grimm.

But in this case, his semblance also amplified that signal, giving what little negativity he truly felt a presence beyond anything she'd ever felt- even when Beacon was under siege.

He disappeared in an instant, his vibrant silhouette materializing right beside Jaune. He was fast- faster than she'd ever seen- but she didn't question it. Neither did Jaune, who quickly placed his hands upon his back.

Just as his semblance enhanced the radius of his emotions, so too did Jaunes. Negative emotions drew Grimm, and he radiated them on a level even a civilian could recognize for miles. To the creatures invading the city, he must have resembled some kind of unholy sun.

All around them, howls of those creatures rose up, and the sound of them marching or flying in his direction overshadowed even the earth-shattering impact of the Leviathan's sudden charge.

Adam glanced her way for but an instant, the sheer thrill in his expression obvious, before he let out a dark chuckle.

More than any other time, the world ran red. There wasn't any black to contrast it, nor even the typically white form of the shattered moon in the sky. All she- or anyone- could see in all directions was that familiar crimson hue.

And then it was over, with Wilt back within its sheathe.

"Is that it...?" It was Jaune who spoke- he'd collapsed, probably in exhaustion from empowering _that- _and it was Adam who answered.

"No."

Blake sighed in wordless agreement. While the Griffins, Beowulves, and Ursae around them had evaporated, something had remained, and its towering form collapsed atop a civic center a moment later.

**ROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRR!**

Even prepared for the sound- and able to draw her Aura up to protect herself- the angry cry still deafened both sets of her ears. It didn't hurt, but only because her hearing had cut out the instant it began.

There was just ringing- an all too familiar sound- and nothing else, but she still saw events unfold.

The Leviathan, missing the majority of its limbs, flailed its body about in a rage. Its intelligence- superior to that of most humans- faltered to animalistic instinct as the pain it experienced overwhelmed whatever passed for a brain inside it.

Unfortunately, that very flailing was more of a threat to them than the breath had been, and while Blake couldn't hear the call to retreat, she recognized the hand signals Adam was giving.

It wasn't dead, but then they no longer had a way to kill it. Handicapped and without its army, hopefully the Argus military could handle it. If not...

Well, them being crushed under its flailing body wouldn't help anyway.

As she ran, Blake gave a quick look behind her. She was at the lead, since she was the fastest before semblances came into the picture, but then Ruby hadn't even moved. She was watching the Leviathan roll around, crushing random buildings under its raw weight in a desperate bid to spite the opponents it couldn't see without eyes.

"What are you doing!?" she shouted, unable to hear her own words. Ruby at least heard her shout, if not the words themselves, since she turned around. "We need to move!"

"We can't!" she shouted back, though Blake only understood by reading her lips. She wasn't very good at it, and missed the next sentence or two. And while she'd have missed the sound of her whisper even without being deaf, she understood those words just fine.

'I'm going to fix this.'

"RUBY!" She either didn't hear or ignored it, since she zipped off in a blur after the crippled beast. _Dammit! _She had the opposite problem Blake did- an inability to run away from something- and it could very well get her killed here. A few empty buildings were not worth her life! And that was assuming it wouldn't just run off before it died!

Blake wasn't alone in sprinting after her. Qrow, Yang, and even Weiss ran alongside her. Honestly, Yang should have stayed behind- she had a broken Aura and no particularly useful skills for this- but she didn't say anything. She wouldn't convince Yang not to try and save her sister.

There were probably some words passed between them, but whatever they were, she didn't much care. The Leviathan had already reached the coastline, and a red blur was only a few dozen meters behind.

* * *

The Leviathan was dead. Reality just hadn't caught up with it.

Ruby growled, and while the sound wasn't very intimidating, the anger in it was real. She would rectify the mistake of its existence herself.

Crescent Rose creaked slightly in her tight grip, and only complained more when she finally caught up with _it. _Cosmic errors didn't deserve names, and after all the destruction it caused? It didn't even deserve a _species._

Metal cut through black flesh, ripping a gash in its side. When it hooked onto one of its many ribs, she used her weapon as a lever to launch herself towards its neck.

It continued to roll beneath her, but it wasn't nearly fast enough to outrun _her. _Attempting to flee was new, for a Grimm, but that couldn't be allowed.

Adam had done a number on it- the front of its head was almost gone, as were all four limbs- but its neck stood mostly in tact. In the time she had, she solved that particular problem; a red blur scythed through all in its path and tearing it asunder. Suddenly losing a chunk the size of her didn't make it bleed, nor did it die.

_Then I haven't cut far enough._

The Grimm tried to crush her with the remnants of its chin, but she simply spun her weapon up and tore the rest of it off.

It tried to roar in anger, but wasn't able to form the sound without its jaw. Instead, it simply breathed with enough force to blow her off of it. Ruby tried to latch on with Crescent Rose, but the blade simply sliced straight through and let the Leviathan thrash her off.

Fine. Let's see it resist something _far _stronger. As she'd been instructed, she thought of her those she cared for. Yang, Qrow, Weiss, Blake, Jaune- all of them. Much like her, they'd agree that it _had to die. _She didn't just think of them, but all those had fallen or would fall to it in the future. It was vile- a monster through and through- and didn't deserve to exist in this world.

Silver eyes flashed.

Just not with the bright light of their power. In her moment of surprise- of hesitation- the Leviathan had rolled out into the waters.

Beyond her reach.


	12. Gods Don't Die

**Sorry. I'd have gotten this out yesterday, but it was my birthday. Had a lot of stuff to do, strangely, followed later by the party. **

**Totally worth it. The cake alone beats out the satisfaction of writing.**

**There should be one more chapter in this, covering the emotional resolution of everything that happened and the arrival of Atlas. As in RWBY, they won't actually land before this is over, but I feel like the sight of Atlas was underplayed a little in how _everyone _but Weiss had the same reaction.**

**Side note: Divide, Salem's theme, is _awesome. _Been listening to it on loop for the past hour or so, and even if its not the best thing I've heard, it definitely takes the spot of #1 RWBY song for me.**

* * *

Ruby watched uselessly as the Leviathan vanished into the water.

She didn't know when it would recover- or if it even could- but it had definitely survived. Under the ocean, not even all of Atlas was equipped to hunt it down. Even seeing the waves cast by its rolling body below, it was already gone.

Why?

_Why!?_

Why did her eyes not work? Why was the damned Grimm nearby? Why send a _Colossus _after a stolen mail carrier!? They _just _wanted a bullhead ride to Atlas; absolutely none of this was necessary.

Exhaustion- both physical and mental- finally set in, leaving her panting for breath.

Crescent Rose fell from her hand, landing with a metallic click on some rubble. She joined it a moment later, falling backwards against the cold concrete.

All of this... The destruction, the civilian deaths- literally aiding a terrorist potentially reignite their organization- and the blasted thing _still _got away.

They were supposed to stop Salem, but they couldn't even take one of her creations down. And as much as she wanted to blame Cordovin for drawing it here, it would still have died if her power just _worked!_

Her brooding came to an anti-climactic end when the sound of approaching footsteps reached her. She didn't get up, but did tilt her head just enough to see them.

"Yo," Qrow called, though it lacked the casual air he normally carried. Ten guesses as to why that was.

Blake, Weiss, and Yang didn't say anything- the first two busy watching the ocean in the distance while Yang's eyes drilled into her head as she stood directly over her. It was a position she was familiar with- it normally meant she was in for a telling off.

It didn't come. Yang stared at her for a few seconds, nodded to herself, and then collapsed too.

"Tired?" Ruby asked, reveling in their shared misery. Yang didn't answer with words, but with a particularly unkind gesture.

Hey, it wasn't _her _fault all of this happened. If anything, she should have flipped Salem the bird. Knowing Yang, she probably would when they finally met. Tragic as her story was, condemning all of humanity was definitely a- as Yang would say- dick move.

She agreed, though even now she couldn't bring herself to actually swear. All the adrenaline was gone, replacing her rage with apathy- though, thankfully, not the same kind as the Apathy caused. She was tired, but that would fade in time.

Ruby just wanted this whole mess to be over with.

Since she was lying on her back, Ruby noticed the Argus bullheads taking to the sky once more. They'd retreated in the face of the Leviathan, but were now available to hunt the remnants of the lesser Grimm. Good- one less thing for them to do.

Now they just needed to steal another bullhead... Yay...

More footsteps drew her attention to the rest of the party. None of them looked particularly well- there were tears in everyones clothing, small cuts in their skin, and dirt spots seemed caked onto just about everyone. The only exception was Blake, who automatically stripped herself of it whenever she used a clone- a useful ability that Ruby wished she could replicate.

Not that Blake looked okay, by any means. The explosion did a number on all of them, and only Qrow came out of it looking little different- and that was only because he wore slightly torn and ratty clothing to begin with.

Maria was physically the healthiest of them. She had only taken damage in the Bullhead explosion, and so had her Aura free to block damage or heal anything that came through. Her goggles were acting up, but...

_EYES!_

"Maria!" Ruby shouted, flipping up to her feet. "I tried to hit it with my Silver Eyes- why didn't they do anything?" She'd understand them not being _powerful _enough for something that huge, but not working at all? That needed an explanation.

The elderly woman took a moment to steady herself atop the precarious rock. Her cane helped- acting as a third leg to balance on. "You weren't thinking of your family at the time, were you?"

"But I did that!" she shouted back. "I did exactly as you told me, and it didn't work. I thought of Yang, and Qrow, and all those lost in the battle, and- and... What's the point of a weapon that can't be used!?"

"Silver eyes aren't a weapon, Ruby," she calmly stated. "They are a tool. Much like your scythe, they've been repurposed for battle, but the power held in your eyes are for the preservation of life. That's why you couldn't use it on the Leviathan, Ruby... You were trying to kill it; you weren't trying to protect something."

"I was! It would go on-"

"Stop."

She obeyed, more out of shock than anything. The terse word- spoken with veiled anger- made her feel like she'd hit a nerve.

"You..." Maria cut off, biting her lip. It took a few seconds, but she eventually leveled her one in tact 'eye' on hers and continued. "Revenge- or vengeance, or justice, or whatever you want to call it... They're not the same thing, Ruby. When one thirst for justice too greatly, it becomes a depravity." She took a breath, composing herself. "You're not working with human design or desires, here. I only figured this out recently, thanks to Jinn's little story, but these eyes... They're probably from the God of Light."

"And...?" That was important information, but not exactly useful. It didn't explain her situation, either... Why would the God of Light _not _give humanity an easy way to stop the Grimm? That sounds like the kind of 'good' thing he should have been doing.

Maria didn't have any issues seeing through her line of thought, and simply asked a question. "Tell me- what does Light mean?"

"Good," she answered immediately, though she did elaborate. "Virtuousness, righteousness, just; those kinds of things."

Her answer only earned her a groan. "Typical," Maria got out before devolving into mumbling to herself.

_Hey! _The answer might be a tad naive, but she wasn't wrong. The creatures of 'Darkness' were characterized by the opposite traits, and Light was definitionarily opposed. Where's the mistake?

"Those are human definitions, yet again. Titles attributed to the gods- not the titles they actually had. Does nobody pay attention anymore?"

It was Weiss who interjected then. "The Gods of Order and Chaos?"

Maria smiled.

"But doesn't that still follow?" Ruby _had _actually remembered that, to an extent, but order was still a positive trait. Chaos meant disorder- thing happening that ended up breaking the stability of life; the very systems they used to survive _required _order to exist.

"No," the Reaper returned with almost contemptuous ease. "Order is stability and Chaos is change. The SDC's practices are completely stable- would you say that's virtuous or just?" She didn't wait for a response before continuing, but the answer was pretty obvious. "On the flip side, the formation of the Kingdoms occurred in a time of great Chaos. The very nature of broken systems necessitates making a new one- and, hopefully, a better one. I think we can all agree the Kingdoms were a good idea."

Ruby couldn't argue that, and nobody else tried to.

"Despite the things Salem has done-" she glanced around, her point obvious, "I can't say she's as evil as the 'darkness' you imagine. She was able to reconcile with Ozpin, even after the pools of destruction, so she's clearly more than the Grimm she commands."

"And what does this have to do with my eyes...?"

"You weren't attempting to maintain something- you weren't bringing about order. Your _intent _was to change the current reality." Maria sighed, turning away. "If I could simply wish death upon the Grimm with a thought, I'd still _have _my eyes. It was only once the Nevermore was actually a _threat to me _that I was able to... Fix it."

"Ah..." Maria had told the story before, but that particular detail had been skipped over. She could understand why... It was probably hard for her to talk about it now, when it _needed _to be said. "I'll... Thank you."

"Guys!?"

Ruby looked up to the one who spoke- Oscar. "What?"

He pointed up, and they all followed his finger to a pair of bullheads a ways above them.

Oh... That could be a problem.

Specifically, the fact that Adam piloted one and the other was careening downwards with no one at the helm.

* * *

"On it," Qrow called, leaping directly into his transformation. It hurt for an instant, but he brushed past it with practiced ease as he soared upward. The side doors were open, but he'd need to bust down the cockpit door anyway, so he returned to human form to crash through the windshield instead.

Touching down inside was nearly as simple, but Qrow managed to hook Harbinger into one of the pilot's chairs and drag himself closer to the controls. He wasn't an expert by any means, but he didn't need to be. Atlas had so many failsafes...

With a final tug forward, he slammed a hand down onto a switch- control over the ship being handed over to the internal AI. It pulled up, throwing him into the backwall, but saving the ship itself from a crash landing.

When he caught his breath, Qrow took a seat while wresting control back from Atlas. He did not go through _all of that_ just to have the AI dock him in Argus. And get him arrested.

The intercom came alive, and while he heard Adam speak, he didn't just sit there and wait. These weren't delivery vehicles like they'd taken- they were armed military units, and Adam could easily take him out of the skies.

Even if he didn't, they needed to move fast. They wouldn't take kindly to them stealing it- which, knowing the idiots down below, would _definitely _be the plan once he brought it down.

"Get on!" Qrow shouted through the shattered glass. He couldn't land on the uneven terrain, but they made do- Weiss used her glyphs to make a stairway into the open side doors. While that happened, Qrow turned his gaze up towards Adam's ship.

He was leaving.

_Figures._

His thoughts returned to the terrorists last words. 'Consider it a parting gift.' He didn't wrap it up in a bow for them, but he couldn't deny just how convenient a present it was. Even beyond getting to Atlas, there was no way they were safe here in Argus.

Alright. Screw it- he could roll with the punches.

Qrow flipped a switch, unlocking the door into the cockpit, and welcomed Maria inside without a word. She didn't say anything either, too busy taking the controls from him and getting them the hell out of dodge.

Finally... It was over. A hand dug through his coat, drawing his flask from the inside pocket, and Qrow shamelessly downed the whole thing. After all of that... He deserved it, dammit.

Just... Fuck.

His eyes lazily panned towards the ocean, and though he couldn't see it from here, the distant continent of Mantle. If nothing else, at least Jimmy Irondick wouldn't let _that _happen again. Things were looking up, overall.

Qrow collapsed back into one of the interior seats, letting his entire body relax. The chatter of children reached his ears, but he ignored it. He was going to sleep, and Oum have mercy on anyone who tried to stop him.


	13. A Moment's Respite

**2 years and nine months after the first incarnation of Fickle Things, the first book is finally complete. All that remains is to get it published, a process that largely just takes time and money.**

**I happen to have _one _of those things and am working on the other. Soon (this year, for sure) it will be out.**

**However, with that out of the way, I can now dedicate myself fully to working on Fixing The Si-**

**Oh... This is over... ****Time for book two, then!**

* * *

**I'll be up front. I totally forgot about finishing this chapter... Got caught up in publishing my book and finding a new job, both of which are important, but which obviously don't take up _literally all of my time._**

**This is being written on the 16th, 9 days after the last chapter, and I only had 500 words- unedited, too. Just... Crap. I'll do my best to ensure it's done by Tuesday. I would promise Monday, but I have _eleven_ assignments in my Computer Literacy course due tomorrow. _Ugh_...**

* * *

**Crap. I did not make it. 1700 words in, I passed out, and only woke up twelve hours later. I was trying not to pull an all-nighter with both of my finals on Thursday, but I didn't expect to lose _half a day _to the void. Fuck me, man. **

**I'll... I won't make any promises, but it should be done today or tomorrow. Beyond that... Idk. I'm still tired, annoyingly, and I have a presentation to work on. Sorry, everyone.**

* * *

Yang let out a tired sigh. Everything was sore, her Aura was still basically empty, and just... Ugh. If Qrow hadn't emptied his flask already, she'd be asking for a drink herself. She had to settle for merging with the thankfully comfortable seats of their aircraft.

Strangely, the Leviathan's rampage wasn't why she felt so tired. She wasn't _used _to death by any means, but she understood it. Remnant was a cruel world, and the monstrous inhabitants only moreso. Once more, her thoughts shifted to Adam.

All her fear- her utter terror- and he hadn't even remotely cared for her existence. He'd attacked her first in the forest, sure, but only because she was _vulnerable. _Weak. Defenseless.

The image of his face came to her again. Where before she'd have seen anger, his expression now only seemed apprehensive. He was _tense _when they'd met. Rather, when he'd met Qrow- the drunk who, even now, snored away to her right.

More than that, though, he'd been indifferent to the rest of them. She could see why- in a fight, the terrorist could have probably beat the rest of them.

And yet they were supposed to go up against someone who was compared to the gods themselves.

"Is Ozpin back?" she asked suddenly, turning to the boy the former-headmaster has possessed. Even having seen his past, it was hard to think of him as anything other than the eccentric ruler of Beacon, and it _was _possible that he'd simply become that way over time. "I have a question for him."

Oscar shook his head, looking down slightly. "He said something about going to sleep earlier... I can still feel his presence, but he hasn't stirred since then."

Well, crap. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he never told any of us how to use the relics."

Nobody corrected her, though Qrow was still asleep. Somehow, she doubted he knew either.

"Guess we're gonna have to ask Jinn when the time comes..." Hopefully, he'd return before then, since some actual guidance would do some good around now. They needed a plan- a good plan, not one of the half-plans Ruby and Jaune always seem to come up with. To be fair, she wasn't much better, but one normally only needed to improvise against Grimm.

Salem wasn't just some Grimm.

Yang shook her head, dispelling those thoughts. Salem was a terrifying foe, but she was human- in a sense. If Ozpin could be beaten, so could she.

"Weiss," she called, getting the girls attention. She was awake, thankfully, but had been staring forlornly at the floor. "Since we're heading to Atlas, you mind telling us a little about what to expect? Besides you, Maria, and maybe Qrow, none of us have been there."

The question earned a sigh from the heiress, but she did eventually explain. "Given our goals, we're probably going to the Atlesian Academy to meet Ironwood. Ironwood is both general and headmaster, embodying the combination of state and military. Everything about the country feeds the military, which is needed when so many lives rely almost entirely on trade. Ships- by air or by sea- are prime targets for both White Fang and Grimm."

Nobody said it, but Yang couldn't help but glance about the stolen vessel they were in. Yeah... Sounds about right.

"I guarantee we'll be found well before we can land. We're going to _want _them to find us since we'll likely be interrogated by the highest official on staff. If it's not Ironwood himself, we should be seeing from his disciple- Winter. I presume you can see where I'm going with that." She glanced towards Blake, who had been dispassionately staring out the window- likely blind to the way her feline ears were facing Weiss. "And then there's actually staying there..."

Yeah... That was going to be complicated. Not just the fact that they were doubtlessly known criminals now, but- as Weiss wordlessly pointed out- they had the 'princess' of Menagerie in their party. "How bad is the racism in Atlas, really?" Yang had never been exposed to it since Patch was almost entirely retired huntsmen and their families. When your career was hunting monsters, night vision and extra limbs tended to come in handy.

"I think you'd be surprised at how little they're hated," Weiss said, smiling softly. "Most of the people in Atlas don't even know they exist."

"One guess as to why that is."

Blake's words cut directly through the pleasant air that had formed, gutting it and leaving the cabin silent. She hadn't even turned to look at them, and still didn't when she explained herself seconds later.

"The SDC and other such companies effectively own the Faunus of Atlas- keeping them in work towns they can't escape from. Ignoring the rare person Ironwood forces down the council's throat, not a single Faunus citizen has existed in decades, and those select few are only allowed to be soldiers or huntsman- people sent away to die for their country."

Yang stayed silent, lacking an answer to that. Weiss wasn't nearly as composed about it, but she merely glared at Blake in response.

When it became abundantly clear Blake wasn't going to continue, it was Ruby that butted in. "Then they're wrong- but that doesn't make it right for you to snap at us like that. You already agreed long ago that Weiss isn't the SDC, nor is she her father, and the rest of us have nothing to do with Atlas."

Blake's golden eyes narrowed on Ruby- not out of anger or annoyance, but simple curiosity. "And what value would you get from what's basically propaganda?" Blake raised an eyebrow when no reply came. "I explained the sad reality of Atlas. In a mission, accurate information always supersedes boosting morale- thinking otherwise only gets you or others killed."

Yang couldn't bring herself to disagree. She'd made a similar mistake once- naive optimism overriding common sense- and she'd told that very tale to the cat across from her. However... "You're also biased, Blake. Have _you_ ever been to Atlas?" The Faunus glanced her way but said nothing, which was answer in itself. "Exactly. I'd hazard that it's a middle ground between your interpretations. Regardless, I believe we have something else to ask about... Jaune?"

He didn't hear her, and it was pretty obvious why. When they'd entered, he'd been staring off towards where they'd left his family behind, and now he was just drilling a hole through the floor with his eyes. With Ren and Nora at his sides, he wasn't alone, but he was still off in his own world.

"Jaune," she tried again, and Nora thankfully shook him to get his attention. He looked up at her with a blank expression, completely devoid of emotion. It was a tad eerie- almost like the Apathy were back, though that obviously wasn't the case. "What happened when you went down there?"

* * *

"What happened when you went down there?"

_I fucked up- that's what happened. _He really wanted to find some excuse- some valid justification for what he'd done- but there just wasn't any.

He'd compromised the safety of everyone there, ruined their original plan- which thankfully didn't get them all killed by the Leviathan- and only made the already traumatizing experience worse for the citizens of Argus.

Taking it down faster hadn't even mitigated as much damage as he'd originally thought it might; the Leviathan rolled on its side the entire way across the city, demolishing more buildings than it would have naturally. It was after _people_, and the safehouses across the city were more than adequate to keep them safe so long as it couldn't single them out.

But he also didn't want to tell them that. The situation was already bad enough as it was without dampening their spirits more. What, then, could he tell them? Lying about everything being fine wasn't going to work- he'd already been in thought on how to answer for several seconds.

Another potential avenue for positives ruined by his own indecision and lack of experience.

Okay, that was a tad too melodramatic, but Jaune was not above pulling a Blake and brooding. Weren't teenagers supposed to angst? And Jaune certainly had better reasons than Blake ever did, at least from what he understood of her past.

"I failed," he eventually settled on, and how else could he explain it? "I let slip that we'd destroyed the Colossus- it spread and caused a panic." He should have seen that coming, honestly. "I'm sure that'll come to bite us in the ass later, by the way."

"Ah..." The response was much the same from everyone else- even Qrow grunted in displeasure, though that was more likely the unpleasant dream he was going through. Yang didn't leave it at that, though. "You screwed up."

Jaune deadpanned at her. "Thanks. I hadn't noticed."

"No, I'm serious. A master makes ten thousand mistakes- and that was a few hundred right there."

"Shut it," he growled, anger mounting.

She didn't. "Look, Jaune, this isn't to kill your spirits. I know you're going to be thinking about this for a long time- we all are- and that ending is almost entirely your fault." His second growl was as ineffectual as the first. "But that doesn't mean you need to take full responsibility. You've been training for what, a year? We've dedicated our lives to this and _I _made a similar mistake myself." She glanced down at her mechanical arm, currently resting in her lap. "There wasn't as much destruction, but I lost something far more important than a dozen buildings."

That connection seemed like a bit of a reach, at least to him. She made a tactical error- giving away her presence before an attack- whereas he'd spread terror amongst hundreds of people in a shitty enough situation as it stood.

His thoughts must have shown on his face because she tried to placate him. "Relax, vomit boy- though I'm going to have to stop calling you that now." The added emphasis drew his attention, and he thought on it. Strange as it was, _none _of the nausea he felt was from airsickness.

_That doesn't-_

He sighed, letting it go. Nice as it was to finally be over it, he had far more important things to think on. They all did, now.

Jaune looked out the side door, spying nothing but ocean in the distance. They'd long since left Argus, but soon Atlas would appear on that Horizon, and they'd enter yet another stressful situation. Was he ready for this...?

The image of Pyrrha's statue, ripped in two, came to mind. He hadn't been there for her, either.

He'd just have to do what he could for the rest of them.

* * *

**Turns out my psychology final was a cake walk... Probably could have gone without studying entirely, which would have let me get this out yesterday. Er... Oops?**

**Whatever. The extra time let me get this out before my next one, and I hope you enjoy. This is the end of Fixing The Sixth, and while I will be going back for spot editing, the overall story will not be getting any massive changes from here.**

**Speaking of massive changes- Excalibrrr will be getting a rewrite. I was never satisfied with the ending, and many of the viewers weren't either, so I'm going back to change it. The biggest thing will be removing the TGWP elements, since Volume 6+ Salem is incompatible with TGWP and I have something else in mind. I will leave up the original, unlike with Fickle Things, but will make note of a rewrite in the description.**

**Thank you all for reading and have a good day.**


	14. The Greatest Kingdom

**So... I am apparently very easy to influence. One review sparked an entire plot rewrite that I've spent the last few hours jotting down, and I figured I might as well post it for you guys. You're welcome, Mrkodeo. **

**However, unlike with the last, I wanted to stick a lot closer to canon. A lot of the poor writing choices aren't inherent flaws, and merely errors in the execution, so... I'm just reorganizing things a bit, with a greater emphasis on Weiss, her family, Watts, and Ironwood. I know that last one sounds hard, since Ironwood was the centerpiece of the whole volume, but I'm sure you'll see what I mean when it comes to it.**

**Needless to say, I do not own RWBY, nor any of the characters within the property. I will be introducing some side characters not used in the show and undoing a few character design changes they implemented- particularly Jaune's haircut. Just... Blegh.**

**The length of each chapter will vary quite a bit, with this one by far the shortest, since I want to ****_end _****each chapter roughly where the corresponding episode ended. With how much stuff from this is getting moved to episode 3... That's gonna be a lot. This also means that each chapter would not function as its own episode, either. Sorry.**

**And without further ado, here's my version of The Greatest Kingdom:**

* * *

The first thing any of them saw was a strip of light on the horizon. It stretched for miles across, masking the kingdom behind it, and yet drawing the eye regardless. It was evening, with the sun setting behind them, and yet the city of Atlas was far brighter.

It was almost mocking, in a way- the light practically begging Grimm to attack Atlas. Yet, as they saw on their approach, there were none. Any foolish enough to try would have been wiped out by the hundreds of ships they could see spread out across the sky.

_This is Atlas? _Blake had never been to Mantle herself. She'd been born in Menagerie and partook in missions in Mistral for the White Fang. What little she'd heard from Adam had clearly been from elsewhere on the continent, as it would be impossible for him to miss the miles wide floating city. The cost of keeping that airborne must have been immense, and yet there it was.

Atlas. She was finally here...

Naturally, Blake found her eyes drifting to Weiss- the only native Atlesian in their party. While the rest of RWBY and JNR watched in awe of the floating city and the armada, she merely sat back, occasionally glancing forlornly into the middle distance. At a guess, she was looking towards her home.

_I guess we never thought about that... You just escaped Atlas, only to come right back. _

_"Manta 8-4, do you copy?"_

Blake didn't visibly react- outside her treacherous ears tilting towards the sealed cockpit door- but her focus shifted in an instant.

"Yes, we hear you."

_"Manta 8-4, your ship was designated MIA two hours and fifteen minutes ago."_

_Makes sense they'd notice us... Adam was hardly subtle in retrieving these. _It was still quite impressive, remembering the way he took to the sky, forcibly ejecting the crew of two different aircraft in seconds. _And then he was gone... _She hadn't received any parting message from him, but perhaps that was for the best. They were moving on, and while she could hardly describe what they were doing as _healthy_, it was better than the alternative.

_"Manta 8-4, we've cleared a landing zone for you on the Atlas Academy airdock. We ask that you surrender yourselves immediately, pending sentencing."_

"Copy that," Maria answered, shortly followed by the ship tilting up towards the floating city.

_"Wait, Manta 8-4, you-?" BZZT!_

Blake's ears twitched slightly at the tone- the high pitched metallic tearing particularly bad just coming off being deafened. _That, _if nothing else, would have been heard by the others.

They all looked to the cockpit door, though that could also have been because it opened to reveal Oscar.

"Looks like we're going to Atlas."

"Duh," Yang grunted, rolling her eyes.

"No, I mean..." Oscar sighed, collecting his thoughts. "We'll be landing at the academy. They're bound to have questions."

"And?" Jaune asked. "Unless we get interrogated by the general himself-"

"Or Winter!"

"... Fine- or Winter- then we have no good answers. Nobody knows about Salem, the relics, or the maidens."

Blake hummed to herself, ignoring the bickering that came of that. How _were _they supposed to get to Ironwood? While the man would surely be interested in meeting with them, he was still a general, headmaster, and political leader. That wouldn't leave a lot of open time, even assuming he learned specifically who hijacked the ship.

_He's the top of the chain of command. The easiest way to get to him would be to cause a problem they need him to solve._ Unfortunately, that would only make it harder to prove themselves or get anything done. Perhaps they could get his attention indirectly, by appealing to his paranoia?

"Qrow, wake up!" Ruby called, attempting to jostle him from his slumber. "You should be awake for this." When that didn't work, Yang joined in, shoving him from the bench.

Miraculously, Qrow slept through even that. All he did was weakly swat at Ruby's ankle, mumbling "Some... Let me sleep in..."

_Come to think of it, he's only been out for around three hours. _They'd need to try a little harder. "Nora?" Blake called, getting the Valkyrie's attention.

She did not envy him in the slightest, especially when- as he groggily got up on the _still slanted _ship- it became clear he was hungover. How strong was the drink in his flask?

"Qrow," Ruby repeated, wisely not sitting within arms reach of her uncle. "Can you contact Ironwood? Or Winter," she added a moment later under Weiss' stare.

"That's it...? You woke me up for their _scroll number!?_"

Ruby winced. "Yes...?"

A moment passed in silence, with Qrow blinking several times as if the reality before him would somehow disappear. No such luck arrived, and he was eventually forced to dig in his coat pocket for his scroll. With a near-silent growl, he dug through his contacts before settling a finger on 'Mourning Wood'.

It took but a single ring for the general to answer- his face appearing on the screen. Even a distance, Blake could see the way Ironwood glanced about the ship through the screen. Of course it would be this easy- why would Blake ever need to actually _use _the skills she spent almost a decade training?

_"You're Manta 8-4?"_

"We're what now?" Qrow returned. "Maybe that's it- how would you even know?"

_"I'm notified of every person or vehicle entering Atlas. Given that you're aboard one of our vessels, and not in handcuffs, I assumed that was you."_

"It's too early for me to be thinking up insults to your little steel ducks, Jimmy."

_"It's almost night, Qrow. The artificial lights are already on in Mantle."_

Qrow took a breath. "The _point, _General, is that we're here and we need to talk."

_"Of course. I'll radio ahead. I'm sure Winter would love to see her sister again while she escorts you to my office."_

"Right..." Qrow let himself collapse back onto the benched seats of the ship. "I don't suppose this can wait another twelve hours."

_"See you soon, Qrow."_

* * *

**So, I found out just now, that Valkyrie is supposed to _always _be capitalized. Not just in reference to Nora's name, but as a proper noun. Go figure. You learn something every day.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy the first look at my take on Volume Seven. I know that not a lot happened in this one, but I also churned it out in a day, so I feel like I can be forgiven for that. See you all sometime in the next ten-thousand years for the next one.**


	15. A New Approach

Atlas Academy. The shining tower to match the Beacon they'd left behind.

To Ruby, it meant little more than that. However, from the way Weiss and Qrow both glared down at it as they came in for a landing, she knew there was more to it than that. She had wondered, long ago, why Weiss chose to study in Vale. Escaping her father's control was the obvious part of it- and what she'd been told- but what if the military was as much the problem?

While Weiss had come into Beacon with high expectations of professionalism and structure, she had given those up. Here... Would that even be an option?

The bullhead- or whatever the Atlas version was called- touched down in the courtyard outside the school. It wasn't the airdock- they'd actually passed that a few buildings ago- but it seems Maria didn't care for the difference.

"Winter!"

Ruby perked up, turning towards the window. Huh. Maybe this was where they were supposed to land?

The moment the door opened, Weiss was already out the door. If not for her own training, Weiss would have been a blur. As it was, she wrapped her arms around Winter before she could so much as flinch.

"Alright- let's go," Ruby called back, getting out herself. Their destination was pretty obvious.

"You go on ahead," Maria returned. "I have an old friend I need to visit in Mantle."

Ruby looked to Winter, but distracted as she was trying to decide how to properly hug Weiss back, it seemed fair to guess she wasn't stopping Maria. "See you later, then?"

A long embrace and quick introduction later, and the group was walking towards the main building. It was huge- taller than any skyscraper in Vale- and the CCT tower at the top only added to that. The base of it, however, had a startling resemblance to Beacon. Three halls branching off a circular main building, with separate structures for... She couldn't really tell, without windows. Then again, even in Beacon the only extra building she used was the forges.

_Should probably keep that to myself._

The biggest difference she noted was the lack of a clocktower. It still seemed like an odd choice for the Headmaster's office...

Winter led them straight into the building, up a short flight of stairs, and into a long hallway. Ruby noted the _one _door easily enough, guessing where they were headed pretty much instantly.

Sure enough, as Winter opened the door and guided them in, there was Ironwood- stood with his back to them, watching the city through the large window at the back. At the side of his desk was-

Ruby's heart lept in her chest at the sight of flowing orange hair. _It... It can't be..._

And yet, as she turned, it was.

Penny.

"PENNY!" Ruby blurred forward, diving towards her midriff and tackling her to the ground in the way Penny did so long ago. Oum, it had been... _Wow, a lot happened in four months. _

"Ruby Rose," she replied, grinning widely. "It is good that you are safe. I had feared the worst after hearing of Beacon's fate."

"You were worried about us?"

"Of course!" Penny replied, raising a hand in salute. "I worried about every student of Beacon."

_Huh...? _Ruby gave her a puzzled look, but it was Ironwood that answered her unspoken question.

"I'm sorry, Ruby. When we retrieved her pieces from Amity, her hard drives were corrupted." A hand rose to his chin, gingerly stroking his beard. "She knows what happened, but has no memory of personally be there."

"So she..." _She doesn't remember us? _Ruby's heart sank, the feeling only worsening when Penny stood up- leaving her to flop to the ground.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all! I'm Penny Poledina, and I hope we can all be friends!"

_At least she hasn't changed any. _While their mission took priority, there was bound to be free time while they continued gathering the relics.

Ruby rose- heh- and gestured to their group. "So you already know all of us?"

Penny blinked a few times, an audible whir accompanying whatever scan she was performing on the group. "My database had been incomplete. It's a pleasure to meet you, Oscar Pine."

Oscar waved back weakly.

"Now that introductions are out of the way-" Penny turned towards Blake. "... you are under arrest for crimes against the state."

"WHAT!?" they collectively shouted.

Before Penny could move forward, Ironwood caught her shoulder. "Stand down."

She nodded, stepping back.

"Forgive her," Ironwood said, gesturing behind him. "Blake was a well known terrorist, and we may have forgotten to update her status after Penny's reboot. Can you do that now, Penny?" She nodded. "Fantastic. Give her, and the rest of them, the 'Atlesian Huntsman' tag."

"You're... Promoting us?" Ruby asked, tentatively.

"Normally, no- I would have locked you all up for life after the stunt you pulled in Argus." Ruby winced, especially when the General directed his glare at _Qrow. _He hadn't made any of their plans in Argus. "However, I need as many trustworthy hands as possible right now, and I imagine that you're capable enough for the jobs I'll be assigning."

"Should we really be talking about this in front of the help?" Qrow interjected.

Ironwood let a fraction of a smile tug at his lips, giving both Penny and Winter a quick glance. "They're not just 'help', as you put it. They know."

"Everything?"

"The maidens, the relics, Salem..." Winter listed, smirking at Qrow.

James turned away from the group, dramatically pacing by the window. "Following Ozpin's death, it was clear we needed a new plan, and I sought out trustworthy individuals to form my own group. As it stands, that's these two and the Ace Ops- a group of four elite specialists you'll be working with in the coming weeks."

"Weeks?" Qrow scoffed. "Oz sent us to collect the the relics and maidens. We shouldn't be here more than a few days."

"That... Won't be possible."

"Huh?"

Ironwood sighed, leaning on his desk. "The Winter maiden- while stable- is no longer mobile. She won't be going anywhere. As for the relic... Did Ozpin never tell you what it is?"

Qrow rolled his eyes. "The staff of creation- can be used to generate power or even grow materials. What of it?"

"It's holding up Atlas."

* * *

_That... That's not possible. It... It can't be._

Qrow shook his head, dismissing the thought entirely. Atlas had a gigantic mound of Gravity Dust hanging off of it. Why else would they have built that?

_To give a plausible explanation for the relic's power._

SHUT UP! He'd... Ozpin said it was in a vault, just like all the others. Holding Atlas up with it would endanger everyone on Atlas _and _Mantle.

_Except that whoever took it would also die, or be trapped underneath thousands of tons of metal and stone while rooted in place by the Gravity Dust._

DAMMIT NO! As much as Ozpin hid from him, he refused to believe he would be so callous as to murder untold thousands of people just to delay Salem.

_Do you really believe that?_

"General!" he shouted, only to catch himself before he could continue. Qrow took a breath, forcibly calming himself enough to even speak in a level tone. "I need to know right now. Is. That. True."

"It is. I could show you there myself, if you'd li-"

Qrow didn't bother listening past that. He turned, barging through the door and just... Leaving.

He'd questioned Ozpin before. Hell, he'd been inches from joining his sister after Summer's death. It was Taiyang- and Taiyang alone- that kept him there. Ozpin told them about the maidens- and after that, about Salem and even the nature of the curse on himself.

Keeping his past a secret? That he could let slide. He even understood keeping Salem's immortality from him, as much as he hated him for it now. But this?

As he cut into the main hall, there was a group of specialists hanging by the entrance. They stopped whatever conversation they had going and stepped aside- a natural preservation instinct as he stalked past them.

Qrow found himself digging through his pockets for his scroll. There was already a message from Ruby, but he ignored it in favor of the map function.

He needed a drink.

No... That wasn't quite right.

He needed twelve.

* * *

"I'm going to assume from that reaction that Ozpin didn't tell you about the staff."

"Nope."

Ironwood sighed, tempted to break something to relieve some steam. Unfortunately, all of his furniture was too expensive to waste. Instead, he clicked a button on a nearby remote, sealing the windows. A second summoned the war-table and dimmed the lights. "Regardless of your opinion of him, I am not Ozpin. I will not be keeping anything from the ni- eight of you. Before I explain my plan, I do have a question- did Ozpin tell you how to use that lamp, at least?"

Ruby glanced down to the relic on her belt. She grabbed it, slowly placing it down on the table between them. "No, but we figured it out. We... We asked it about Ozpins secrets."

He nodded. Not a bad question, all told. "Was that the last question?"

She nodded sheepishly, prompting another sigh.

"Damn... It would have been nice to learn the entirety of Salem's current plan." He strode forward, grabbing its handle and giving it and once over. "Still, I would like to keep hold of the relic. Salem clearly wanted it, if Haven is any indication. Perhaps we could set a trap."

Yang raised her hand, to which Ironwood merely nodded. "How did you learn about Haven? I thought international CCT communications were down."

"Not quite. As it stands, Mistral and Atlas are close enough to send signals to a mediary in Argus. Unfortunately, Vacuo has no such middleman, and Vale remains without a tower. That's actually part of what I wanted to talk to you about."

The table flashed, summoning an image of the Amity Colosseum.

"I have a plan to beat back Salem once and for all. And it begins with Amity."

* * *

_"... the Kingdom of Atlas will remain safe. That is my promise."_

"Shouldn't make promises you can't keep, Jim," Watts remarked. "Atlas may survive, but Mantle?"

_"You sound confident."_

"I have every reason to be." Watts flicked a finger, disabling the cameras around him. In the same motion, a barrier rose up beside him, blocking an oncoming car and likely killing the driver on impact. "Tyrian, have you finished with Baxter yet? It seems another protester was arrested in Mantle. He threw a brick at a military bullhead."

Tyrian snickered. _"I suppose that carries a death sentence?"_

"My thoughts exactly."

Tyrian snickered again, louder this time. _"It's a wonder we get away with anything in this town."_

Watts paused in his stroll, gazing up into the raining sky. It was artificial, of course- Atlas would have collected anything falling from above. It wasn't hard to imagine ways to tamper with that, too, leaving openings for Tyrian to do his dirty work. "I do so love our current arrangement. It's far better than working with that arrogant brat."

_"Ah, I hate you too."_

Chuckling to himself, Watts clicked his earpiece off. There was still so much to do.

* * *

**Ten-thousand years go by so fast, don't they? It's truly remarkable.**

**So yes, here we are with the second 'episode' of RWBY Volume 7. The next chapter will be where the differences really start mattering. I put this authors note at the end because I wanted to make a note about Penny.**

**I like Penny. I think she's a fine character, even if she's occasionally annoying. It's like dealing with a little brother or sister. However, Volume 7 kinda... Does some unrealistic things.**

**Spoilers for anyone who hasn't watched it (although, why are you here then?) but Penny becomes the Winter maiden. Not only is Penny a machine, and thereby effectively genderless and ageless- the only two criteria we have firmly laid out- but she also as the aura of a man. HOW CAN SHE BECOME THE MAIDEN!?**

**Up until that part, she was my second favorite character of the volume- first being Ironwood, of course- and it just... WHY AND HOW!? Ugh...**

**So no, that's not happening, but more importantly, she also has no memory from before her reactivation a few months prior to these events. Penny and Pyrrha's death were supposed to be- but aren't actually- important character defining moments for Ruby. Bringing one back from the grave with the added advantage of flight and better weapons just kinda... Devalues that? The maiden powers make it worse, but I already said that's not happening here.**

**The point is, if Ed and Al from Fullmetal Alchemist actually brought their mom back in episode 1, or even when they finally got the philosopher stone, it would completely ruin any emotional character growth they'd had until that point.**

**I can't stand it. Maybe I'm just weird, because an awful lot of people were cool with it, but Penny coming back just fine felt like wish fulfillment to me.**

**Anyway, that's my daily rant out of the way. Now I just have to figure out who to _actually _give the maiden powers too. Yay me...**


	16. Ace Operatives

**I would like this opportunity to address one my reviews for the last chapter. He commented on the fact I had Qrow flip his shit over the staff of creation and its current predicament.**

**The fact that the staff isn't in a vault isn't the issue. The fact that it goes against their plans isn't the issue. It's the callous way using it to lift Atlas protect it- a factor he's _certain _Ozpin took into account, even if we never cover if he had or not. It's essentially weighing the lives of all of Atlas and Mantle as being less important than protecting the staff, because taking it would be a death sentence to _everyone there besides Salem herself. _**

**It's a reinforcement of the many, many doubts Qrow canonically has had since the reveal of his past and the various lies Ozpin told even him- his, supposedly, most trusted and close ally. This being despite the fact that Ozpin canonically told Ironwood _more _than Qrow regarding the current situation, seeing as Qrow doesn't know where _any _of the relics actually are.**

**So yes, without context, it might seem an extreme reaction, but it's based on a number of real problems the show decided to just forget about from last season.**

**He also mentioned the fact that Qrow and Raven (mostly Raven) angst over turning into birds, despite that being an objectively useful and positive ability. That is a great point if I had ever once suggested otherwise. That's RT's problem, not mine.**

**However, someone else did raise a great point, in that I am working rather quickly. Rushing the volume had been RT's most obvious mistake, and it would certainly appear I am on track to repeat that. So, instead, I took a whole day to plan out the details of each of the various characters and plot threads and created a more thorough timeline of events. **

**I'm not sure if that's enough, but- unlike them- I can actually go back and make additions to the story after release. Hopefully, with your suggestions and my own plan, this can work out.**

**Fifthly, I must apologize for the delay. I intended to get this out on the 28th, but I've had a lot on my plate since the 20th. There was my brother's wedding, four people moving (myself included, but that's not until the 10th), a reunion with my biological father- the whole shebang. I'm publishing this huge chapter mere _days _after moving to Tennessee.**

**Lastly, someone brought up a list of likely maiden candidates. The main point of contention is that I want them to be on Ironwood's side, and since Penny notably _isn't, _that only really leaves Winter or a member of the Ace Ops. I did end up making a decision, and it is regrettably _not _one of those people, but I figure this will be more interesting in the long run regardless. For obvious reasons, I will not be spoiling who it is, so please stick around to find out.**

* * *

Qrow glanced up as someone took the stool next to his own. Even from the corner of his eye, he recognized him instantly- it was one of the operatives he'd passed back at the academy. He'd been followed? An odd choice, given the fearsome scowl he still wore. _Am I losing my edge?_

Another shot of Stygian Salt drowned out any such questions but gave his new 'companion' the chance to chat him up.

"I'm Clover, a member of the Ace Ops. I take it you're Qrow?"

Qrow gave him a flat stare; it didn't work. _Definitely losing my edge._

Clover chuckled to himself, raising a hand to call the bartender. When he came over, Clover pointed to the eight shots already arrayed before him. "I'll have what he ordered."

"You're gonna regret that choice," Qrow mumbled, downing another. He'd long ago grown used to the burn, but 160 proof was nothing to sneer at.

"That sounds like a challenge," he returned, smirking. "Care to make a bet on it?"

Qrow turned to the specialist properly, giving him a quick onceover. He was about the same build- presumably the same weight. Given he worked directly under Ironwood, he _couldn't _be an alcoholic. "How much you got on ya?"

His smirk grew, five 100's smacking onto the table a moment later. "More than you, I'm sure."

"Right..." He never carried that much cash on him- couldn't afford to, with his semblance- but he carried an ATM card around with him. Qrow felt around his jacket pockets, but came up empty. Had he dropped his wallet somewhere?

Clover answered for him, tossing the leather pouch his way. "It slipped out when that truck hit you. You've got some rotten luck."

Scoffing, Qrow dropped it back into his coat. "You don't know the half of it."

"I think I might. It's your semblance, right?"

Qrow's eyes snapped to him, and the surprise must have shown because he started laughing his ass off.

"Oh man, that's rich!" Clover smacked the table a few times, mirth overflowing. "How'd you figure it out? A piano fall on you as a kid or something!?"

"Ha, ha, ha," Qrow deadpanned. "And no, it fell on someone else."

That shut him up if nothing else. It also gave the bartender time to finally get his drinks ready- a dozen shots of Stygian Salt.

Clover looked at the arrangement nervously. "Are they supposed to be... Steaming?"

_Yes, _he thought but didn't say. It was decorative- like the flames or foam other drinks were served with. The drink _was _warm, just not enough to evaporate. "Giving up already?" Qrow taunted, downing another of his own. The image was immediately ruined as he choked on it- hacking up what went into his lungs.

"No, no, I can do this," he said, more to psych himself up than in answer. "I've taken down Goliath's before; this is nothing."

Qrow could only laugh as Clover spat it out- just missing the bartender. "I am so winning that bet."

* * *

"However, in order to raise the new CCT Tower, we will need dust- lots of it." Ironwood raised his hand to call for silence, just before Weiss made to interrupt. "Yes, the SDC could easily provide the amount. However, such a large shipment would be obvious to any of Salem's spies. As such, we will be getting it from its source- an abandoned mine out in the tundra."

Clicking a button on his remote, the image of Amity changed to that of a Gheist. It was out of date- years out of date- but Gheists don't grow stronger like other Grimm since their bodies are made of the surrounding material. "The mine was mostly drained by the time this Gheist took up shop, so the SDC didn't bother attempting to reclaim it. Their last report indicates that it has all the Dust we need to get Amity up and running, though we would need more to maintain it."

"And that's where we come in!" Yang shouted, palming her fist. "You're sending us to clear the mine!"

"Wrong on all accounts," Ironwood said with a chuckle. "You won't be going anywhere. _Penny _will be dispatching the Gheist and securing the area."

"Wh-but..." Yang sputtered, and she wasn't alone in her confusion. The rest of their group seemed at least a little off-put by the answer.

"It's not a slight against you, or a lack of trust. She's simply the best one for the job." Penny saluted at that, to which Ironwood nodded. "Penny can see in complete darkness, fly, cut her way through the walls, and- no offense- is probably the strongest individual in this room. I'd hazard that, given a few more years, she could best a Maiden by herself."

That last comment got a reaction. It wasn't a joke, either. Even before the Vytal Festival, Penny's sheer power was enough to even best him. It was with that assurance that she was sent out...

An image of the girl, split into pieces, flashed through his mind. It faded just as quickly- just one of many unfortunate memories he'd have until his end.

"Okay... What will we be doing, then?"

Ironwood didn't answer right away, instead gazing out the window to Atlas. He couldn't see Mantle from here, but the height of the academy let him see the distant snowy hell beyond their walls. The Grimm would be too small to see from here, but he could imagine them racing to their deaths against the walls of Mantle.

"You will be taking over her job- protecting Mantle. I don't have an image on hand for this one, though I'm sure you'll be seeing it in a moment. The... Vytal Festival had some consequences here, with Grimm tearing several holes in the outer wall of Mantle. Penny has been handling any Grimm that make their way into the city." He turned back around, gauging their reaction. It wasn't great, but then this was bad news. "I imagine that between all of you it will be far easier."

The Mistralian- Ren, Ironwood recalled- raised his hand. "What kinds of Grimm should we expect?"

"Mostly Sabers. The flying Grimm are taken down from Atlas and the Goliaths only attack when negativity spikes. Atlas has far less variety, since the cold can and does kill most of the generic Grimm."

Ren nodded, glancing down at his weapons; bladed pistols, by the looks of it.

A quick scan of the group revealed more than a little damage. Burns, cuts, damaged or depleted weapons. Argus had not been kind to them.

"You'll all be offered the full accommodation of an Atlesian Huntsman. That includes ammunition and the opportunity to upgrade your equipment. I'll even pay for it- within reason." Ironwood found himself smirking at the way Ruby's sudden excitement deflated on hearing that. "Try to keep your reliance on Dust to a minimum. Jacques has been... Making life difficult for us."

"He's refusing to sell to you?" Weiss asked, bewildered. "That doesn't sound like him..."

"He is," Ironwood conceded. "However, in protest to the embargo, he's been charging quite a lot extra for us. I don't imagine he would be too thrilled to find you among our number, either." He gave her a pointed look. "I am not going to judge your choices, but do try not to anger him further. He's already breathing down my neck and I really don't need to give him a _good _reason to work against me."

Weiss nodded, which seemed to be the best he'd be getting.

"I should also warn you, Yang, that the events of your fight in the festival are still in the memory of most of Atlas. You _will _be recognized." She frowned, turning away from him. "Given what happened soon after, I believe your story. The rest of the city won't, however."

When nobody made to break the silence, Ironwood pressed another button to lower the table. He took its place, clasping his hands behind his back and bowing his head.

"I want to thank you all for coming here. It's... Been a trying time, and I appreciate all the help I can get." He looked up, gesturing towards the door. "The Ace Ops should be waiting outside- they'll get you situated for the night. Rest up- the mission is in only two days."

The group acknowledged that in various ways- with Ren going so far as to salute him on his way out the door. Winter and Penny followed after, both having responsibilities for the day. One of Beacon group didn't leave, however, on account of him grabbing their shoulder.

* * *

"Hm?"

Oscar turned, instantly noting the relieved smile on the General's face.

"Ozpin... It's good to see you."

Before he could say anything, James pulled him into a fierce hug. Somehow, it was worse than _Nora's, _with his Aura just barely stopping his spine from shattering.

"I-Ironwood... Air..." he managed, which was enough to get him released.

"Hah, my apologies. It's just..." He shook his head, dropping to one knee to be level with him. "I thought you'd take longer, old friend."

Oscar didn't have a quick answer to that, and his silence led to Ironwood frowning.

"Ozpin?"

"He's-" Oscar sighed, breaking eye contact. "After we questioned Jinn, he left. I can still feel him in my head, but he hasn't spoken to me since."

"Oh..."

Ironwood let him go completely, turning away to hide his expression. His posture grew rigid- a military stance Oscar recognized thanks to Winter, as she'd been standing like that for minutes now. He kept moving, returning to his desk and slowly lowering himself down into the seat.

The way his locked hands tightly gripped one another betrayed the forced calm on his face.

"What did Jinn tell you?"

Oscar took a few steps forward, placing one hand on the Relic of Knowledge. "She didn't tell us much at all... Jinn showed us." Since he was holding it, the relic responded to its name, summoning the spirit within while Oscar continued. "We learned about the Gods, Ozpin, the relics... And the origin of Salem."

Ironwood didn't answer him, but then Oscar had been pretty shocked to see Jinn for the first time too. Though, from the way his averted his eyes, perhaps embarrassment played a part too. He could relate.

**"The tin man- what a welcome surprise. Another chance to meet someone new. This is certainly an interesting era."**

"Jinn," Oscar greeted, gaining her attention. "You know what I'm thinking."

She grinned, leaning forward to cup his cheeks. Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending on your perspective- that also left him staring directly at her chest. **"I do- and no, I won't be doing that."**

Oscar flushed, closing his eyes long enough for her to move away.

**"I know all things past and present, so I do know what you _intended _me to hear. And yes, I can answer questions regarding my nature freely. After all, I can tell you my name or the number of remaining questions."** She winked at the latter, the motion unseen by the general behind him. Fortunate, given Ruby's previous lie. He'd have to ask about that later...

Taking a breath, Oscar readied himself for the inevitable. "Can you repeat an answer without cost?"

Jinn smirked.

**"Allow me to _show _you my answer."**

* * *

Ironwood stumbled back a step, finally finding himself back in his office. The constantly shifting environment had not been... Comfortable, to say the least.

A quick scan of the room found nothing out of place- a blessing he was thankful for as he collapsed back into his chair. He hadn't known the time when the tale had started, which was a shame... Whether they were pulled from reality or time was stopped, both would have been great military uses.

"General?"

_Guess I can't just avoid the problem for a minute..._ Taking a breath to compose himself, Ironwood sat up. Jinn and Oscar were both still here, looking at him expectantly. Yet, h_ow am I supposed to respond to... to THAT?_

He knew a lot of it already- in a very loose sense- but he'd been missing the context. The gods were assholes, Salem was Ozpin's spurned ex-wife, the maidens were their reincarnating love children- and Oum, the whole Remnant and Semblance naming motif? It was literally an edict from the gods, proclaiming their broken status.

Even with all of that, he still had so many questions. How did Salem control and manipulate the Grimm? What physical and neurological changes did she undergo in the pools? What if Ozpin and Salem were the only people left, and Ozpin died?

Where the hell did humans come back from!?

_And they're still staring at me... _Though, by now, Jinn had begun to smirk at him. Right... She could hear his thoughts, since they were technically 'knowledge'.

"Oscar... Thank you, for bringing this to my attention. I will be... Revisiting this soon. In the meantime, I need to think." Ironwood stood up, gesturing to the door. "Go get some rest for your mission tomorrow. You'll need it."

The boy watched him for a moment- perhaps judging his expression- before finally nodding and turning to leave. It was only once the door had closed behind him that Ironwood allowed himself to relax again.

_She _was still here, but that mattered little. Since she couldn't answer any questions, she _couldn't _act as an information leak.

Jinn coughed.

Ironwood glanced up, meeting her gaze. Was she hinting at something?

_Wait... She can't answer new questions, but she can answer the olds ones again. The questions Ozpin asked before..._

"You didn't express the answers to his other questions before, but you can still tell me." Ironwood took a breath, readying himself for whatever may happen. "What powers do the relics possess?"

* * *

"Wake up!"

Regrettably, and with infinite suffering and labor, Yang found her eyes opening to reveal a clock proclaiming the time to be a brisk 6:00 in the morning.

Her glare quickly refocused from the innocent machine to a soon to be dead Specialist standing at the end of her bed. She recognized him- vaguely. A canine faunus of some kind with dark skin and hair. He was not only awake but already in uniform, which only served to piss her off more.

"I just went two days without sleep, and you woke me up after seven hours." The words- or her harsh tone, it was hard to tell- made him flinch. "You have ten seconds to explain why you woke me up before I put _you _to sleep."

"Winter Schnee requested your presence..." he returned, smile somewhat strained. "Team RWBY, specifically."

Yang groaned, wiping the crud from her eyes as she sat up. "I thought our mission wasn't until tomorrow?"

He nodded. "It's not, but she intended to help get your gear fixed and run you through a few drills. While I don't know the full plan myself, she even reserved one of the flux arenas on the second floor."

Her eyebrows drew down, remembering what Weiss described as 'Winter's Training Regime' back in Beacon. And that last bit... "When you say 'flux arena'-?

"Oh, my apologies. A flux arena is what we call the variable battleground system. Amity is the most notable, and I'm sure you remember what that was like."

"I see..." _Wait, the way he said that-_ "You remember me from the Vytal Festival?"

"Of course- I doubt there's a person in Atlas that wasn't watching. You were a semifinalist."

Hm. Since he wasn't bringing up her disqualification, he probably knew from Ironwood what had happened. "How many people would you say know the truth of what happened?"

"I don't-" the faunus frowned, breaking eye contact. "Almost nobody. We have no proof of Emerald's Semblance, so we'd only lose face if we tried to publicize your innocence. Just... On this mission, try and keep your temper in check. Even against the Grimm, it would contribute to your reputation."

_Except my Semblance is tied to that... _Her dad's description of it was rather apt- it _was _a temper tantrum- but an inarguably effective one. Staying calm would leave her without her best weapon...

Wait.

"We were promised repairs and ammunition- where would I go for that?"

He blinked at the sudden change of topic but recovered quickly. "The armory is down the hall and to the left- if you need anything custom made, or upgrades to your equipment, we have a number of engineers on staff. The directory should be just past the door- can't miss it."

"Thanks..." Yang blanked on the name, and rather than ask she moved towards the door. She was still in uniform- having crashed the moment she got into the room last night. It was only when she was halfway through the door that she paused, a blur of introductions flickering through her head. "Marrow?"

"Hm?"

"Nothing," she returned, closing the door behind her. The halls were unmarked, but 'down the hall and to the left' was easy enough. "Nothing at all..."

Yang turned, only to jump in place as she met golden eyes.

"Hi...?" Blake waved non-committally, clearly having caught the of that conversation. "You, uh... Want to talk about it?"

With a sigh, Yang scanned the hallways for anyone else. Besides a pair of cameras monitoring from either end, they were alone.

That wasn't alone enough, though... Not with Marrow just inside their door. Was there anywhere more secluded they could talk? Back in Beacon, there were a number of abandoned classrooms, but neither of them knew where they were here- if there were any to begin with. Classes were in session, after all.

"We'll talk later," she said instead, continuing towards the armory. "We've got quite a few things to discuss..."

She didn't miss the way Blake flinched at that, or the subtle blush that formed as she passed by.

* * *

Ruby, as it turned out, was a madwoman. Weiss had known that for a while, but it has always been a kind of cute eccentricity. Now, with the offer of _unlimited _modification to Cresent Rose, all free of charge, she had gone overboard.

Her unbridled passion was not limited to her own weapon, either. _That _was the problem.

If her partner wanted to lug around a two-ton variable impact, grenade launcher, shotgun, poleaxe, sniper-scythe, then that was her prerogative. How she'd maintain it once they left Atlas was utterly beyond her, but she wasn't about to stop her.

Her patience stopped when she suggested reorganizing the firing mechanism of Nora's hammer, allowing it to fire all of them at once in a glorious multicolored explosion. They were supposed to be _heroes _and nuking the battlefield was antithetical to their mission.

Might as well drop an Astra or Brahamastra at that rate.

"Ruby, Ruby," she repeated since she'd missed the first call. "We don't have a lot of time before the mission- any upgrades you want need to be fast and easy to design and build." It wouldn't stop most of her ideas, but they weren't all without merit.

She was personally invested in the sheathe Ruby had come up with for Myrtenaster. By adding an extra chamber to the revolving chamber and a Dust Fusion device to the sheathe, she'd be able to draft combinations on the fly. This would also allow her to make grenades from the powdered form- which was the most plentiful, particularly among the White Fang bases they would have a chance to raid along their journey.

"Don't worry, Weiss," Ruby replied, still pouring over the database of existing Atlesian weapons. "I'll get upgrades for the whole team before the day is out!"

Weiss rolled her eyes. If Ruby wanted to put the effort in, who was she to stop her? "Just run each of them by the user first."

Drawing out her scroll, Weiss passed over a few pointless notifications. Spam mail, a Beacon Newsletter that really should have stopped coming... Ooh, a snowstorm was going to arrive in a week? What a surprise.

It was when she reached her private messages that anything of note arrived. She'd expected the message from her father, once again asking as to her activities. The message from Whitley, on the other hand?

_Sister,_

_I know you're in Atlas. I don't know what you've been up to, and I don't care. Since you've left, Father has grown restless and angry. You and your sister have seemingly betrayed him three times now._

_There will be a dinner in four days. I have spoken with him, and while he's still furious with you, he will accept you back if you come back then._

_For my sake, as much as your own, I hope to see you there._

Attached was an image file of the invitation, though the name on the card- 'Beatrice Avalone'- was rather blatantly not her own.

Mulling over that detail was a welcome distraction from the fact she'd _already _broken one of Ironwood's few orders. How her presence had reached them, she had no idea, but they clearly knew she was here _and _wanted to confront her.

"Weiss?" She glanced up, already prepared with some excuse for what she was looking at, only to find the girl distracted with something else entirely. "That's Yang's arm, isn't it?"

The color was off, but the arm was unmistakably the same. The computer allowed a full 3D examination of each blueprint, and many had internal views off to the side. This was no exception, explaining the internal mechanisms for movement, firing, reloading, and control in excruciating detail. As educated as she was, Weiss could only grasp the basics of the complex machine before her.

A signature on each page of the blueprint drew her eye- and Ruby's. _Dr. P. Poledina._

Penny?

"Penny?" Ruby agreed, sifting through the file for a full name. None was forthcoming.

It made some level of sense that a sentient machine would excel at designing them, but that timeline just didn't fit. Penny had died at Amity, and while a few months had passed before Yang's arm came, that included shipping all the way from Atlas to Patch _without _an active CCT in Vale.

Thankfully, the one in Atlas was still up and running, and a little prompting was all it took for Ruby to call the android.

"Hello, friends!" they were greeted after a whopping zero rings. "I'm afraid I'm busy at the moment, so I might be a little distracted!"

Ruby took over from there, explaining what they'd found. There was a pause when she finished- so brief Weiss nearly missed it. "Did you design the prosthetic arm for my sister?"

"I did not," Penny answered. A few Grimm roared through the scroll before they were torn to shreds. They couldn't see the violence on their screen, but the sound of bone plating shattering was hard to miss. "You're looking for my Father, Pietro. If you give me a second, I can locate him."

_Her Father? _"That's fi-"

"Thank you for your patience. He's currently outside his shop in Mantle." Another Grimm roared to its death. "I'll forward its address to you."

Before she'd even finished speaking, the message sent off a ping from Ruby's scroll.

"Is there anyth-"

Both of them jumped at the sudden ending, panic mounting. It didn't last long, as another message from Penny came through.

_I am surprisingly popular today. Your call was interrupted by another, this time from Ironwood._

_I hope we can continue our conversation another time, friends._

_Penny_

"Figures," Weiss sighed, letting the tension seep away. "She's got a mission coming up in a day too. You think he'll call us next?"

"Maybe." After a moment, her focus returned to the blueprint in front of them. "We can thank Pietro later. Since Yang's arm is already here, upgrading it would be the easiest."

Weiss nodded, sparing a glance to her own weapon. Each of the individual parts would have been in the database, but was Atlas tracking the blueprints to their weapons themselves? She wasn't really concerned about the military knowing them- it was just as important as the Semblance database- but these computers were accessible to any student or staff member. Was it even limited to the academy? Doubtful.

Making a mental note to ask Winter later, Weiss sat down to join in Ruby's madness.

Someone had to do it.

* * *

Jaune wasn't surprised to find the door to their shared dorm locked when he came back. His scroll not opening it, on the other hand? That was a surprise.

From the muted sounds his ears caught a moment later, however, he found himself thankful it did. Interrupting their alone time? That was a great way to get a beating, loosely disguised as an impromptu training session.

What else did he do, though? His weapons didn't need maintenance- and Ruby had already volunteered to design any upgrades for him; thank Oum, since he had no idea what he was doing there.

Actual training? Not a bad plan, but he was already fairly fit. He needed practice, which wasn't something you could get on your own.

_It would help if I knew any of the students from Atlas. _He could vaguely recall Penny from the fair at Vytal, and he'd seen Atlesian teams fights, but he'd never been matched against one. Come to think of it, all of his opponents had been from Mistral or Vale.

His hand naturally fell to the hilt of Crocea Mors, but the blade didn't hold answers this time. The bronze coating, however, did remind him of the training video Pyrrha had left behind.

Loathe as he was to admit it, he'd learned all he could from the video. He could recall her words, and the actions involved, with perfect clarity.

But she was hardly the only one to make those. If memory served, even Port had made a few before joining Beacon. Then again, that came with the absolute mountain of salt all of Ports stories deserved.

Their group had been given a barebones tour yesterday- their chaperone mostly just naming facilities as they walked around- but he still remembered the location of the training halls. Not from the tour- Brothers, no- but from seeing the interior of one through an open door.

With only a single wrong turn along the way, he found himself before that same wide gateway. It was closed this time but simply opened as he pressed inside.

It was occupied.

_Of course it's occupied, idiot. It's still school hours._

Although, that was better, wasn't it? If he could find someone _new_ to spar against for an hour or two, that would be worth hundreds of videos of practice.

The eight occupants of the room didn't seem to notice him, and -lacking any of their names- Jaune looked to the Aura board.

**[89%] Flynt**

**[65%] Neon **

**[44%] Kobalt**

**[52%] Ivori**

**[98%] Donny**

**[71%] Octanis**

**[12%] Nua**

**[42%] Schwarz**

The handy pictures by their names let him find Nua, sitting atop one of the artificial walls, calmly watching the rest of them duke it out. His faunus nature was unmistakable- and, of course, it was yet another feline faunus with ears. Those seemed to be rather common...

The most striking part of his appearance was his color scheme. Unlike the rest of his team, who had a single color, Nua was split between orange and black. As in, his hair was split down the center, with his outfit following suit.

He had a sword by his side- a simple cutlass, at a guess- and no other visible weapon.

Pushing Aura through his legs, Jaune launched himself up just high enough to grab the lip of the wall. A simple pull-up later and he was crouched beside the startled faunus.

"Hey, my name's Jaune," he offered with a hand. Nua took it, shaking loosely as he looked him over. _Is he wondering if he's seen me before? _"I'm a new transfer," he answered before he would ask. "Just looking for someone to spar against."

Nua's blue and green eyes narrowed and he flicked one hand towards the scoreboard. It wasn't hard to guess what he meant.

"Sorry- I meant in a general sense. I knew you were out." Seemed the rules of engagement were the same here as in Beacon, with those under 15% taken out. It was a good safety net, he thought, even if Aura size varied a lot. His was a great example- 15% of his could be some unlucky soul's entire Aura.

Nua's gaze turned back to the fight, and- lacking anything else to do- Jaune followed him.

The fight was anything but simple. Donny- another faunus, though with a bushy fox tail- was launching water around the battlefield. It only ever hit Kobalt, who seemed rather slow, but he was strong enough to break out of the ice it formed into.

Schwarz was throwing some kind of white fire around the battlefield, which wasn't being extinguished by Donny's water- somehow. He was also apparently a melee fighter, coating himself in the flames and using a set of claws to engage in CQC.

Neon was the easiest to follow, despite her speed, as she was simply batting people around with a nunchuck. Vaguely, Jaune felt like he'd seen her before.

Ivori and Flynt were running around in the background, using ranged attacks to drain Schwarz of his Aura. It was working, as he was losing at least a percent each second that passed.

And then there was Octanis... He had no idea what she was doing, really. It had to be a semblance, since she was pulling any number of different weapons out of nowhere, draining them of ammo, and then grabbing a new one. The empties simply vanished as she tossed them aside.

It was a mess, to say the least.

That's not to say he couldn't see the result of the fight before it happened. As Schwarz was finally taken out- the strange man taking Kobalt with him- team DONS was left without a frontline. Neon's harassment forced Octanis and Donny away from the edge, where they came under fire from above.

As cool as Octanis' weapons were, and the near-perfect defense Donny put up with his water- they couldn't last against three mobile fighters.

**WINNER! Team FNKI!**

Nua huffed, pouting at the result. Jaune spared him a pat on his back before he kicked off the wall, landing amongst the other combatants with a simple safety roll.

It was only after he rolled into their midst that Jaune thought about it.

Diving directly into a group of huntsman who just got out of a fight- all without introducing himself- probably wasn't the best plan.

"Hi," he managed to choke through the water he'd been encased in. Though, calling it water seemed a bit of a misnomer. It had the consistency of drying concrete. Though, he supposed, that was better than being hit by the four guns currently pointed at his head. Donny realized his mistake quickly enough- the water pulling away and somehow leaving him completely dry.

"Sorry, man," Donny said, using his tail as an extra arm to drag Jaune to his feet. "We get enough surprises from Nua teleporting in on us- he likes to keep us on our toes."

Jaune glanced back towards the faunus, who waved back with a smirk.

_Guess I deserved that. _Still, they were clearly still up for a fight. Donny, in particular, had surrendered with a whopping 92% of his Aura left. He'd barely been hit the entire fight, and he could see why- the water he manipulated acted as offense and defense, one that worked against even sound.

"I'm Jaune, of team-"

"Juniper, right?" Octanis interrupted, leaning on another of her guns as if it was a walking stick. "We were watching the tournament. Would have won it, too, if _someone _hadn't been hospitalized." From the way she glared up over his shoulder, it wasn't hard to guess who she was referring to. "Congrats on making semifinals, if nothing else."

That was one way to put it; though, Jaune doubted killing Penny counted as a victory. Yang was disqualified just for, supposedly, breaking someone's leg.

"I'd rather avoid the subject," he said honestly. His palm naturally sought the hilt of Crocea Mors for comfort, and he was thankful they didn't flinch at the incidental gesture. "I've got a mission tomorrow, so I'm here looking for a sparring partner."

At the words, Neon's eyes lit up with glee. That was the only warning he received before she shot across the distance, bowling him over with an extended arm.

"Come on, pretty boy! I'll play with you." As she spoke, she skated circles around him, casually flipping between going forwards and backward. Jaune watched it from his back for a moment, calmly waiting until...

Crocea Mors- still in its sheathe- whipped out to the side at ankle height. Neon was unprepared for it, tripping over the edge, but that was hardly the end of it.

In a move ripped straight from some dance videos he'd seen, Neon flipped onto her hands and whipped her legs around in a circle. Spreading them in an inhuman split, she made contact with the ground and span up to her feet.

All of that in the second it took Jaune to get to his feet normally.

_Damn... _And not just because it scuppered his plans. The sheer flexibility on display had him blushing stupidly.

A moment later, a nunchuck to the face wiped it off.

Cursing himself for his lack of attention, Jaune expanded his shield- sword still in its sheathe. With that between him and Neon, he was able to reach for his scroll and set the Aura alarm for 15%.

It wouldn't hook up to the big screen, but that was more than fine with him.

Neon waited for him to fully draw his sword before resuming the fight- not that it helped him. She flew by as a blur, hacking at his ankles, and was already sweeping past him against before he could turn.

Jaune ignored the sting and instead focused on the battlefield. The arena was set up like the interior of an empty building, roof not included. Four rooms, that he could see, and an abundance of walls.

He threw his back against a wall, tracking Neon as he sidled towards the corner.

It was a simple strategy, and that's how he knew it was good. Neon didn't seem to have a ranged weapon- which was fine, he didn't either- but a corner would limit her approach significantly. Even before he'd been trained, he could block when he knew where the attack was coming from.

Neon wasn't stupid either, and she simply watched him from a distance.

"That's not how you win," Flynt shouted from the sidelines. "If she were a criminal, she'd have escaped already."

Dammit, he was right. Grimm would attack him on sight, but even they wouldn't seek _him _out specifically. Huntsmen were called that for a reason... They hunted things. They weren't called defenders or guardians, because defending the walls wasn't enough.

Jaune closed his eyes, picturing the roof of Beacon from so long ago.

When they opened again, he was already moving. Aura pulsed through his legs, enhancing his stride. He was still slow compared to the likes of Neon and Ruby, but it was enough to close the distance in four steps.

He threw a wide diagonal swing, forcing her to duck to the left. She did, and he pressed forward, bashing his shield towards her face.

She braced both hands against his shield, letting the momentum throw her backward.

Smirking, Jaune planted his feet and spun. By straightening his arm, the straps on his shield came loose, letting it sail after her.

Neon's nunchuck lashed out, knocking it away. It still fulfilled its purpose, however, leaving her distracted just long enough to crash into the back wall.

Twenty feet in two seconds. For most, an insurmountable distance, and there was certainly no way he could cover that in time.

Thankfully, he didn't have to.

Crocea Mors shot out, snagging one of his shields latches. A simple gesture later, and it was thrown again- this time towards her legs. Neon had time to react, of course, but that gave him time to close in as well.

With her back to a wall and skates on her feet, there was only one way to go.

Neon lept over the shield, turning forward. Her legs braced against the wall like springs, intent clear.

They met in the middle. Neon, diving forward at high speed, and Jaune, sword tearing a silver arc through the very same air.

"Shit!" Jaune shouted, flipping over himself sideways. He hadn't even seen what had hit him- but, then again, he couldn't see the ground he was rolling across either. Mercifully, his impromptu gymnastics course was brought to an end when he met the _actual _wall of the arena, slumping against it a moment later.

It took a moment for his senses to reboot, at which point he was staring into the multicolored eyes of Nua. Or, he should say, the multicolored _glare _of Nua.

"Nua! That was uncalled for!" Donny, and his two identical twin brothers, came to his rescue, pulling his teammate back. "Yes, he screwed up, but that's no reason to hit him that hard." Nua resisted just long enough to make it clear he could before walking away.

The words took a moment to filter- just as long as it took for his vision to correct itself, as it happens.

"I screwed up!?" Jaune demanded indignantly. "I was winning!"

Donny briefly glanced behind him- to Neon- before turning to him fully. "Oh no- your plan was great," he was quick to say. "But what was with that last strike, man? It looks like you were preparing to kill an Ursa or something."

_Huh?_

"I... I've always attacked like that..." And yeah, it had literally been the same maneuver as when he killed that Ursa way back at Forever Fall. It clearly worked, so that wasn't the problem.

"You should temper your strikes more, man." Donny scratched at the back of his neck, as though what he was saying was uncomfortable. "For... A lot of reasons, actually."

Jaune just stared at him, unable to comprehend what he meant. Why would you train to attack weaker than you could? Grimm had thick bone plating which made weaker strikes all but useless on the larger beasts. Even his strongest attacks would barely scratch an elder Deathstalker.

"Aura isn't perfect; it can only block so much damage at once," he said in answer to his unspoken question. "The lower the Aura, the worse that is... While it's hard to guess, Neon doesn't have the strongest at the best of times..."

Jaune blinked.

Jaune blinked again.

Then, in a stunning display of his wit, he blinked again.

"I could have killed her...?" he finally asked.

Donny blinked back before realization hit. "No! No, at least, it would be _very _unlikely. Injure, on the other hand?" He shrugged. "Sparring is about training technique, and you don't need to use extreme force for that."

Oh... That was substantially better than he thought.

It hadn't really come up in Beacon... He'd been so slow, so unpracticed, that he'd only ever landed a powerful hit on Cardin- someone who had both a large Aura and full plate armor. However, come to think of it, even Yang's most devastating punches usually only took out 3-4% of his Aura.

Oh Brothers, Nora! She was at least twice as strong as he was _now_ and wielded a colossal warhammer. How had he not noticed that before!?

_Probably because everyone was trained for that before Beacon... _He had no frame of reference- nothing to compare their attacks against. They'd always seemed so strong a domineering because of his lack of training, but...

"I'm sorry," he suddenly said, having realized he'd been silent for half a minute. "I wasn't thinking about that."

Donny gave him a small smile and a nod before jogging back to his team. That gave him a moment alone with his thoughts.

Ironwood's mission briefing had a list of expected Grimm for the area... All of them were relatively unarmored, implying the 'Ursa killing' level of strength would be enough if he just landed the attack. He'd already proved his planning ability and skill... Did he even need extra training for this?

No. The answer was obvious, and yet it still brought him a sense of relief.

With a smile, he stood up, looking forward to their first mission.

* * *

**PING!**

Ren glanced down towards his scroll- strapped to his wrist, for convenience- and read the message from Ironwood. He got the gist from the subject line alone but read through it all anyway.

_Penny has successfully killed the target and is en route back to Mantle as we speak. ETA six minutes. Once she's back, you will have the option to leave your post._

_Mission accomplished._

So, that was their first official mission.

How thoroughly underwhelming.

Split between a banker's dozen people- Clover and Qrow hadn't come back, for whatever reason, so they only had eleven- it was pathetically easy. Across four hours, they'd only encountered a total of 34 Grimm; 29 Sabyrs, 2 Gryphons, 2 Giant Nevermore, and a single Goliath. The latter hadn't even attacked the city- Nora had seen it from the walls and decided to have a little fun.

No wonder Penny could manage the entire city by herself. Unless there was some sudden spike of negativity, Jaune might have been able to do it himself.

_Hm... _Ren raised Stormflower before him. Using Jaune as the defacto weakest member wasn't quite true anymore... Ren hadn't been there to witness his fights himself, but one of the Ace Ops, Harriet, recorded the clip of Jaune bisecting a Gryphon.

Jaune was physically stronger than Ren- and that wasn't an issue since he was a more technical fighter- but he was being held back by these weapons... They couldn't keep up, even with something as brutally simple as Nora's hammer. Perhaps if he had access to dust rounds, but with the worldwide shortage caused by the White Fang and Roman's theivery, that seemed wasteful.

No... He needed something new. Something he didn't design when he was ten.

Ren's gaze naturally tracked up to Atlas, the city in the sky. The military would have something.

Was it worth bothering Ironwood over?

_Can't hurt._

* * *

**"Why didn't Ironwood question what Ozpin was hiding from them?"**

**That question annoyed me a little bit because it presumed he wouldn't across a conversation that hadn't even ended yet- or the future ones. My answer is that Ironwood isn't an idiot- he noticed the cane Oscar was holding and correctly presumed it was Ozpin. Why he needed Ruby to point that out in the canon annoys me almost as much as the review, and given the fact she was hiding stuff from him, it makes no sense for her to explain that and yet hide why he's gone.**

**I really need to stop letting these get to me.**

**And yes, I did change it so Jinn can repeat answers to questions. This _will _be plot-relevant later, though here it mostly stands to inform Ironwood and keep the 'immortality' secret things from being a problem. It was a stupid thing to hide in the first place, since it doesn't mean undefeatable, just unkillable, and a general could understand that.**

**I considered rewriting the fable itself since I have my problems, but everything I could come up with sounded equally stupid. The big problem I kept running into is that Salem must be aware and human enough to reconnect with Ozpin, since that's where the maidens come from and it's the _only _way she'd find out about the relics, but that occurs after the dip in the pools of destruction- the only easy way to make her genocide seem reasonable.**

**While I doubt I'll have the chance to implement it, I was wondering if any of you had any ideas for how to keep the main ideas of the fable intact while improving it.**


	17. Pomp And Circumstance

**This episode was an odd one to write a remake of, mostly because everything in it is something I either already did or have no intention of doing. In that way, it's going to be the episode most unlike canon.**

**That's not to say I didn't have a plan going forward. In fact, I had quite a few objectives going into it.**

**1\. Explain what happened to Qrow and Clover, somewhat.**

**2\. Detail some of the weapon upgrades (Qrow and Oscar aren't getting any and I'm specifically saving Ren's for later since he's just getting a new one).**

**3\. Explain in greater detail the Atlesian council system.**

**Originally, there was a fourth objective, relating to RWBY and their collective familial issues, but I decided to save that for a later time.**

**As an aside, I'm having the trip to the manor prior to the election. At least, the FIRST ONE! Haha! Plot twist! The first meeting will not be at all like the one in canon since Ironwood, Winter, and Penny aren't even going to be there. It'll just be team RWBY. Should make for some great family drama.**

**Anyway, I actually like Jacques. I think he's a bad person, but he could be such a good character if he wasn't shafted by political dick measuring. Not the shows- I mean the writers.**

**I have a number of secondary plans to go in the midst of that, but I won't be explaining them here. I feel that would ruin the fun- my fun, specifically.**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

A blaring alarm broke through the pleasant veil of sleep. It was a familiar tone- the default alarm that came with any scroll from the last nine years.

_I could have sworn I turned mine off._

Qrow's arm swiped at it blindly, catching the edge and knocking it off the bedside table. With a quiet groan, he slipped his hand to the ground and clicked the alarm off. He rolled back around, snuggling up against the warm body beside him.

_Wait..._

Red eyes snapped open, meeting the unconscious face of... Some girl. _Whew. Worried me for a second, there. _He could remember bar hopping with that Ace Ops guy- Clover, he reminded himself- and he'd feared the worst. He couldn't remember the night before, which implied he was _more _drunk than usual.

Idly, Qrow glanced about the room. A fair amount of clothing was scattered about, mostly the girls. His boots and coat were by the door, his shirt and belt were strewn about randomly, and his pants were still on him. Oddly, his socks seemed to be missing, but he could deal with that later.

Settling back into the bed, Qrow checked out his date. She was clearly a native Atlesian- nobody else could be that pale- but that was the best he could manage. Light brown hair wasn't exactly rare.

Still, he'd scored? Clover wasn't lying about his semblance. That, or he was one hell of a wingman.

A grimace came over him as he recalled his last attempt, but the memory was quickly buried as he drew the covers back over the two of them. The window was still dark, and unless the world decided to end, he was going back to bed.

On cue, the scroll alarm went off again, drawing another groan from him.

Not just him, as it happened, as another sounded from the ground beside his bed.

_Did I get two? _He dared to hope.

No, nope, nadda... That was a male groan, and he recognized it too.

Clover sat up, clutching his head with one hand as he disabled the scroll entirely. Now that he saw it, the make was far newer than his own. _Really glad there was a girl, at least. _Not that there was any evidence Clover had been involved. He was still in uniform- albeit with the jacket torn open to reveal a rather surprising lack of abs. _Not like I can talk._

"What happened?" the specialist wondered aloud, still clutching his head. Heh, he could remember his first hangover. "We were... We were at the bar, and you made me drink that steaming crap..."

"Hey," Qrow bitched, as was practically tradition. "That was some premium liquor- and I paid for it." Technically, Clover had, but only because he'd stupidly bet on a drinking competition between them. His memory was a little hazy after leaving the first bar, but that part was crystal clear. "What's the alarm for?"

"Huh?" Clover took a moment to process the question before his confused expression became one of panic. "Shit!"

Qrow watched almost passively as he buttoned himself up and arranged his hair with his fingers. "Duty calls?"

"You too!" he shouted, patting himself down. "That was the alarm I set for the Mantle mission."

"The what?"

A look of realization came over him before he glanced to Qrow. "I forgot; you weren't there for the briefing. Your kids are joining us in protecting mantle for a bit."

"The day after we arrived? I can't imagine that went well with the kiddos."

Clover froze, and Qrow tensed with him. The specialist was stiff as he turned, meeting his cautious gaze.

"What?"

"It wasn't the day after..." He cupped his face in both hands, looking down. "We were going to give them a day to rest- to restock and prepare. How long... No, I know how long. What-"

"Calm down," Qrow interjected, getting up. Out of everything, that motion got his bed partner to wake up, but Qrow ignored her. "I'll talk to James- he'll be more than happy to blame me for this. In the meantime..." Qrow grabbed him by the shoulders, dragging him into a nearby chair. "You are in no condition to fight."

"What do you mean?" Clover made to stand, only to find himself held down by Qrow. "They need me out there!"

Qrow stepped back, raising a hand in front of his face. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Just as he opened his mouth, Qrow flicked his forehead. Clover flinched back, but too late to avoid it. "You were staring at my hand and still couldn't react. You're staying here."

"Easy for you to say- you're an unemployed drunkard."

"Hey now, I'm a teacher at Signal." It was a pretty weak defense since Ozpin kept pulling him away from his classes for random missions even _before _the school shut down. Thankfully, in his haze, Clover wasn't able to identify the holes in his argument.

Not that he stayed silent.

"I'm still a soldier- I'm not going to just abandon my mission." He successfully rose this time, brushing past Qrow on his way to the door. "Hungover or not, I've got a job to do."

The door slammed shut behind him- the hinges wincing audibly. Qrow was left watching the door dumbly for a moment.

A cough brought his attention back to the _other _occupant of the room. She was sat up in bed, covers drawn over her chest. "Uh... Who are you?"

He smirked, posing with a thumb towards his chin. "I'm Qrow. And you are?"

"Uh..."

Qrow felt he was a pretty good judge of people. Running on forty, and with at least a decade of experience guarding or spying on people, he had more experience cold reading than most. And now? His instincts were screaming that something was wrong.

She wasn't a threat. Naked and without a weapon, he could beat a civilian with a finger. Hell, maybe his semblance could knock them out. Was she someone important? He didn't recognize her...

Narrowing his eyes, Qrow studied her increasingly uncomfortable face. There wasn't any obvious familial relationship that he could recognize. Still, something felt off. He leaned closer, checking her eyes.

Nope- not silver or red, both of which would have concerned him. Green wasn't the most common in Atlas, but that wasn't a problem.

_Hm..._

Damn, he was a bloody idiot. She wasn't just youthful- she was _young. _"How old are you?"

"N-nineteen."

_Whew, dodged a bullet there._ Assuming she was telling the truth, but he had picked her up at a bar.

Wait.

Nineteen. Bar.

_Fuck._

* * *

James tapped once on his console, automatically transferring the call. "What is it?"

"Just- ah, stop it!" Clover kept his scroll steady, giving him a clear view of his face being pecked by a familiar black bird. "I'm checking in for the day."

"Ah." Ironwood made a note of the time, reminding himself to chart it down later. "You missed that yesterday. I assume that was our drunken friend's fault?"

"Yeah, he- ow!" Clover swatted the _c__row _aside. Ironwood bit down on his snort. "We went bar hopping- I only came to this morning. I didn't even know we were in Mantle until I stepped outside." Clover glanced to his right shoulder where Qrow was perched. When he didn't do anything, Clover turned back. "That's him, isn't it?"

Ironwood couldn't quite keep the smirk off his face as Qrow squawked. "I'm guessing he has a problem with you?"

"He thinks I shouldn't be in the field today." His eyes rolling clearly demonstrated what he thought of that. "_Apparently _his missions weren't very impor- fuck off, Qrow!"

_Dammit, Qrow. _Ironwood couldn't even keep his mirth quiet- outright laughing as Qrow flapped his wings in Clover's face. He was able to mute himself, at least.

By the time Qrow finally let off, he'd recovered. "This mission isn't expected to be very difficult, Clover. Thirteen people- or eleven, without the two of you- filling in for a single person? It's mostly practice for the kids, and a chance to patch the hole in the wall."

Clover span- _turning to the wall? -_and winced as he met the sun instead. "It'll take more than a few hours to fix the wall..."

"I said patch it- not fix it. This won't stop a goliath, but it should put an end to the Sabyr incursions."

"Right..."

The door to his office drew open. "Take the day off, Clover. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Without waiting for a response, he hung up, turning towards his guest. "Miss Schnee?" _No, that's bound to get confusing. _"Weiss?"

"General," she curtseyed, already most of the way into the room. "I was scouring the news earlier today and came across something..."

One guess as to what _that _was. He sighed. "Yes, your father is running for councilman, and no, he isn't going to win."

"How would you know?" There was suspicion in her tone, but it passed quickly. "And your confidence or no, it's still making me-"

"Paranoid."

"- concerned," she growled. "He wouldn't do that without a plan."

"Of course he has a plan. He _always _has a plan- and most of them are terrible." He sighed, leaning back in his chair. "Jacques has run for council every two years since you before you were born."

"For _Atlas," _she retorted, as though it wasn't painfully obvious. "He's running for the Mantle seat this time."

"And he'll get one on the representative branch yet again," he deadpanned. "With all due respect- which is none, by the way- Jacques hasn't been popular in more than two decades."

"You're just going to... Ignore this?"

His eyes narrowed. "I'm not ignoring it. Mantle has two-hundred times the faunus population of Atlas- there's just no chance he'll win that election. I'm not even sure you could _rig _him to win."

Weiss... She didn't quite calm down so much as deflate. That was enough for her to _think, _however, and that would solve the problem on its own. Ironwood pressed a button under the lip of his desk; the door to the room swung open. "If you'd please, Weiss, I have a busy schedule."

She didn't want to leave it off at that- the way she became less rigid in her stance as she got frustrated was identical to her sister- but complied with his request. And it was a request, strange as that was to say. He was busy, but he would have talked it through with her if necessary.

It just wasn't important. Not as much as dealing with Salem, at any rate.

His scroll rang.

_Speak of the devil and he shall appear. _"What do you want, Jacques?"

"Why must you be so terse with me?" The man glowered at him through the screen. "I've never once done you wrong."

"Directly, no," and for that Ironwood was grateful. He had directly targeted the military on a couple of occasions, and he'd certainly given him a number of scathing remarks, but that wasn't what Jacques was referring to. "And I've returned that favor."

"Indeed you have," he agreed with a fledgling smile. "I was actually calling in regards to a different favor."

"Oh?" That was interesting. The Atlesian Military and the SDC were obviously tied together, and Ironwood had traded quite a few favors with the man over the years. Given the smile, it seemed unlikely he was displeased with the results of one.

"I am aware that my errant daughter has returned to Atlas." _And yet you're smiling... _"I was reluctant at first, but Whitley has convinced me to allow her back a second time- on a provisional basis, of course." That was news to him, but then he hardly kept up with family drama. It also explained which favor he was concerned with. "Please ignore my earlier request to recover her directly. She is rebellious, and I imagine she would simply flee from Atlas once more."

"Do you want me to do anything instead?"

Jacques stroked his mustache briefly in consideration. "If you would do it for free, could you pass a message onto Winter?"

He quirked an eyebrow. "That would depend on the message..."

"Nothing outlandish, I assure you. I simply wanted to offer her the chance to join us for the dinner I'm holding in two days. I doubt she will accept, but the offer is there."

Doubt- right. The fact he even had to ask made it clear she'd blocked off all means of communication the man had, practically guaranteeing her refusal. Nonetheless... "I'll pass your message along. I assume Weiss is going to be there."

He grunted, neither an assent or disagreement. The hidden message in that was clear. _She hasn't formally agreed to it, then?_

Not unexpected, but bothersome; the happier Jacques was, the less likely he was to make a _public _stink about him commandeering one of his abandoned mines. However useless to him, it was still private property.

Ironwood waited just long enough to see if Jacques had anything left to say before closing his scroll.

Finally, he could get back to-

Ironwood's glare- famed almost to the point of matching Glynda- burned down at his ringing scroll. It softened slightly when he recognized the number- it was familiar, and one he could _ignore _for once.

_Do people just forget I'm the headmaster of a currently active school AND a general? _The paperwork alone would have driven any lesser man to insanity. It was the very reason Ozpin had made Glynda his deputy...

He was greater than a man, in more ways than one. That was the thought that steeled him as he stared down a new pile of the dreaded crap.

"Once more unto the breach."

* * *

"Why did you guys say no to so many of my ideas!?"

Blake found herself smiling at Ruby's indignant cry. It was so... So _her, _and with the return of a school setting, it was almost enough to let her imagine they were all back in Beacon. In answer to her question... "I, for one, thought most of them were great ideas; they would just be hard to implement."

"But I did all of that work for you!"

Under any other circumstances, she might have had a point there. Except, "_we _would have to learn new fighting styles to match the changes. An extra ten feet on Gambol Shroud- on top of all the extra weight on the smaller end- would throw all of my training with it out the window."

"That was just for you! My ideas didn't change Yang's any!"

"That's where you're wrong, sis," the blonde interjected, deploying her remaining half of Ember Celica. "One of your ideas what about leaving explosive charges behind when I punched things? I've based my entire fighting style around the shotgun blasts; they increase the force of my punch _and _charge my Semblance through the backlash. Making the explosion go off later would lose both benefits."

Ruby hung her head, turning to the last member of the team- her partner. "At least one of you liked my ideas..."

Weiss laughed, patting Ruby's back in reassurance. Blake caught it, though- Weiss had a practiced laugh for awkward situations but it came out a bit higher pitch than normal. Maybe nobody else could catch it, but with two genetically enhanced sets of ears?

_She is going to reject something too, huh? _

Ruby was brilliant, and the designs she came up with were great. A lot of it just seemed unnecessary, though. Really, their team just needed more Dust ammunition and training. There was only so far you could improve a weapon.

Ozpin used a bloody cane and he'd had a thousand years or more to choose his.

"I agreed to the double trigger system, didn't I?" It was a weak attempt to cheer Ruby up but sue her. She spent eight years with terrorists.

"Yeah," Yang agreed, lifting her mechanical arm. "The detachable cable system was great."

Ruby sighed, standing to gaze out the window to Atlas. "We've almost died so many times since this all started, and there just isn't enough time to train. Adam was stronger than us, and we're against someone who can't even die. I just... This is the only way I can think to help."

_Wow... Way to give us a reality check._

"You're right," Yang said, joining her by the window. "But bad ideas will only make it worse. We need better _plans, _not better equipment."

"But what do we actually do!?" Ruby shouted, causing them all to flinch. She caught it, dropping her volume, but the anger in her tone remained. "I've tried to stay optimistic, I've tried to hold to the belief that _everything _will turn out okay, but we don't have a plan."

"Yes, we-" Weiss tried.

"We don't! We have _Ozpin's _plan. The plan of someone who's failed for a _thousand years._" Her breath came out in heaving gasps for a moment. She wasn't done, for all that her voice turned quiet and soft. "The only _thing _that has any idea what's happening can't tell us the future, and even Ironwood's grand plan is to _delay _Salem. It's the same thing as Ozpin has been doing- just with fewer secrets..."

She wasn't wrong, as easy as it would have been to claim so. Despite that, Blake found herself standing in the general's defense. "There is no plan that just gets around an immortal with an army of Grimm. A stopgap is better than nothing."

"I know it is. It just doesn't feel like something _we _can contribute to in any meaningful way," Ruby lamented, collapsing back onto her bunk.

"Maybe not yet," Weiss hedged, shuffling to her side. "But things _are _different now. If Ironwood's plan works, the entire world will be on our side. Then we'll have millions of plans to pick from. Sounds like an improvement, no?"

Ruby huffed, but there was a lack of heat in it. "I suppose you're right."

"I'm _always _right," Weiss bristled, though from the blush she utterly failed to hide Blake guessed it was for their leader's benefit.

"Of course you are," Ruby smarmed, a small smile breaking through. "My apologies, your highness. Please forgive your loyal servant." Adding injury to insult, Ruby knelt down on the ground as if bowing to royalty.

The former-heiress reacted about as expected, rushing off into a longwinded speech about proper conduct for _official _huntresses. That was one change she could approve of since Beacon.

And yet, with both Ruby and Yang's smiles only growing as Weiss grew more and more exasperated with the young leader, Blake couldn't help but realize an important truth. Beacon hadn't been as great as she remembered, because it was these three idiots that made her attendance worth it.

* * *

**It's clear to me now that I can't adequately explain the council system only in character... Everyone who cares would already know how it works. So, instead, I had the snippet with Weiss and will conduct a full explanation below.**

**After the Color Revolution, the 'council' was more a system of advisors that could, in theory, replace the king. It was a difficult process- deliberately so- and led to a number of logistical problems.**

**Ironwood's father was one of six generals serving under the last King of Mantle, and was approached by Ozma- as the King of Vale- regarding a coup. Given the clear prosperity Vale had received under Ozma's rulership and the relative stagnation of Mantle, he agreed, and all but one of the generals soon agreed as well. **

**Within a single day, they'd deposed the ruler, and the trouble came from how to build a new government. Since the military was in control, a lot of it came down to their own interests.**

**Atlas Academy became under military governance, with the headmaster given a seat on the council. Each of the five turncoated generals was also given a seat- leaving six total seats in the direct control of the military.**

**The remaining six seats they agreed to were distributed amongst Mantle- which had two, prior to the raising of Atlas- the merchant guild- which also originally had two, but was later removed- a Vale ambassador, and the Grand Judge- which was a lifelong commitment and was elected by the rest of the council.**

**The Merchant Guild was replaced by the 'Representative Branch', which was a total of 49 elected seats which were given to council candidates who lost in accordance with accumulated votes. They settled ties and dealt with most of the mundane goings-on of government.**

**In this manner, the modern Atlesian council has 60% of its 10 seats directly controlled by military interests. Importantly, the Grand Judge is elected by those seats, meaning they have all been former officers as well. **

**This is a form of military dictatorship that would easily become tyrannical since subterfuge is a viable method to acquire power. Fortunately, the government is still young and hasn't had enough time to become thoroughly corrupt. It still means most citizens have very little control over their governance, however, producing an unusual amount of negativity that has to be countered by instilling great patriotism and pride among the populace.**

**It is actually that last part that led to the most hatred towards Faunus, as they are viewed as the enemy of Atlas following the Faunus wars.**

**I could spend another few paragraphs detailing the election cycle, international politics, and any number of other ancillary features, but I'll only bother if its something that interests you all. Hell, I might even make that my own 'World of Remnant' episode. :)**


	18. Sparks (Proper)

**Wow... I left that up a lot longer than planned. Since author-note only chapters are technically against the rules, I didn't want to release the update without the chapter, but I also had a lot less time to deal with things than expected.**

**A lot of things happened, including my _seventh _time being hit by a car, which prompted me to completely bail on the state. I've returned home to Washington and am currently staying with my brother while I find work. Thank all that is unholy for my marvelous great aunt Marilyn, since she's the one who bailed me out of Tennessee. A shame I couldn't stay with her, but she's old enough to be at significant risk of death from the whole *worldwide plague* thing.**

**Somehow, that seems a lot less important after spending a good month or so eating one meal a day and walking 3 hours or more on an injured leg.**

**Thanks for the emotional support, the few of you who reviewed. While I can't say you were the difference-makers here, you did keep my spirits up while I went through complete and utter bullshit.**

**TLDR:**

**I am alive.**

**The story is alive.**

**The world moves on.**

* * *

The Schnee manor was exactly as Weiss left it.

She wasn't surprised by the fact, but it was still slightly annoying to discover. So much within the family had changed, and yet the grand halls and lavish decorations left the mansion feeling disconnected from the occupants.

No wonder it felt so lonely...

Weiss turned when a hand settled on her shoulder, only to find her nodding reassuringly. That's right- it wouldn't be lonely for once. She had her team with her, even if JNR and the others found themselves occupied in Atlas.

And they weren't in Atlas. The Schnee Manor was located atop a flattened snowfield adjacent to a dormant volcano. Despite its ownership, the building was powered by the heat of Remnant. Tunnels leading into it also formed most of the secret escape routes.

There were... A lot of those. They were a necessity when you had so many enemies.

"Are we going in?" Yang asked, though her usual impatience was gone. The question was hesitant and- from the look in her eyes- she was probably trying to gauge Weiss' own feelings.

How fragile did they think she was? No- they didn't deserve her irritation. The person who did had gone so far as to invite them here, and it would be rude not to deliver. With more confidence than she really felt, Weiss led them all inside.

The front door was manned by two men Weiss didn't recognize, but she never had familiarized herself with the staff. She knew the cooks, waiters, and Klein. An oversight, perhaps, but there simply wasn't time to rectify that issue right now. She wasn't returning to the manor full-time anyway.

As expected, Jacques wasn't in the lobby to greet them. Nor was Willow or Winter, though Weiss knew the latter was busy on a mission for Ironwood. They weren't unseen, though, and the process of elimination found them greeted by Whitley. "Weiss!" he called out, rushing over from the vaguely familiar businesswoman he'd been speaking with. "I'm glad you could make it."

He was taller than only two months ago, which initially sparked a pang of jealousy in Weiss. It passed the instant she saw his shoes- raised by an inch or so. One of Jacque's ideas? Weiss shook her head, focusing instead on the way Whitley bowed and checked the group out.

Thankfully not in the way Yang did to him.

Weiss masked her frown in mirroring his bow. The rest of her team followed suit, allowing them all to rise. "Thank you for inviting me, Whitley- these are my teammates, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, and Blake Belladonna." Weiss _imagined _Yang's wink during her introduction.

Thank the Brothers that wasn't what Whitley got distracted by. He gestured with his hand- not quite pointing, but the closest thing is was polite to do- towards Blake. "Belladonna as in _White Fang _Belladonna?"

"The Belladonna household was responsible for the _original _White Fang, not the one that has targeted your family." Of course, Weiss helpfully neglected to mention that Blake had been a part of both. Whitley hadn't panicked- thank heavens for that- but he had narrowed his eyes at Blake's ears in suspicion.

Whitley glanced between Weiss and Blake a few times, his thoughts unknown, before coming to some kind of conclusion. Another smile- weaker than the one he'd originally greeted us all with- spread over his face. "Welcome to the Schnee manor, all of you. May I take you to the first-floor lounge for drinks and a short meeting on tonight's itinerary?"

Ruby, and Ruby alone, nodded, but that seemed enough for Whitley. He led them through the West wing. It ended in a library but had a myriad of rooms along the way including the simple lounge they were led into.

Weiss couldn't recall ever entering this room before, but it was a near duplicate of the lounge on the second floor. Expensive couches, TVs, a small kitchen, a bathroom at the corner, and a complete lack of windows. If you were going to sit still for a long period of time, you didn't do it in full view of snipers out in the wastes.

What they actually sat down at was a small roundtable surrounded by six chairs. Whitley pulled out a chair for each of them, as pointless a gesture as it was to the other huntresses. Weiss only cared because he also pulled one out for her, meaning he was currently being viewed as a guest.

_I suppose I deserve that. _For her brother's sake, Weiss didn't bring it up. He didn't take a seat. As per his role as host, he retrieved a bottle of True Silver wine and a glass for each of them. _That would be outside their palette... _He wouldn't know that, though, and it would be rude to call him out on that.

"May I have some Vacuan Rose?" she asked instead, prompting him to bring a bottle of that over as well. Both were strong wines, but Vacuan Rose was a fruity red instead of bitter white. Helping them wasn't the only thing- she preferred it too.

"Here you are, ladies," Whitley said, setting their glasses on the table. He kept a hold of the True Silver bottle, prepared to serve them, but- as Whitley was growing to realize- they didn't understand the etiquette of such things. Since he kept the bottle, they all took from the Vacuan Rose. Catching his mistake, Whitley served himself and took a seat. "Before I run through the schedule, I was hoping you'd answer a question for me."

Ruby took the lead there. "Sure."

"What brought you all to Atlas?"

Oh dear... Whitley knew they arrived, but only the General, Winter, and our group knew why. However many contacts Jacques had in the military, _they _weren't among them. While the confirmation was nice, it also meant they needed some kind of excuse.

Weiss returning to Atlas after fleeing it just over a month ago. That wasn't suspicious at all.

"Our group was taken on to escort a VIP to Atlas," Ruby answered for them. It wasn't even a lie, as much as they'd been heading to Atlas _before _meeting Maria. Was Ruby always this good of a liar? "Once we got here, we were hailed by the military," she continued without missing a beat. "In honor of our actions at Beacon and later Mistral, he decided to make us official Huntresses."

"Splendid! Simply splendid!" Whitley exclaimed, and Weiss could see the energy there. It wasn't in the polite clap of his hands- that was a gesture Jacques taught all of them- but rather the sudden glint in his eye. _He's found something.._. "Will you be staying in Atlas, then? I don't imagine he could make you Huntresses of another nation."

"We'll be staying for a while," Blake answered in Ruby's place. "The General needs more soldiers and huntsmen on duty while the wall in Mantle is repaired. We should be here for that, at least."

Whitley grinned ear to ear. "That is fantastic news. I have more questions, but I'm sure there will be time for that later." He rose from his chair, retrieving a set of pamphlets from the counter by the sink. There looked to be a dozen- were they expecting more guests? "This contains the full itinerary for tonight, including several optional events. It is-" he checked the clock above the door- "12:36 and father's welcoming ceremony is at 1:00. I know you don't enjoy these things, Weiss, but he does need to ensure everyone here knows you're alive and well."

_More like he needs everyone to know his daughter has come crawling back. _Weiss bit back on the comment- Whitley probably knew, but he wasn't responsible for it. "I can't help but note that particular item doesn't have an ending time."

He winced. "Yes... You know how long Father's speeches can go, and he's also going to invite you to make one. He'd rather you didn't after what happened at your last public function, but etiquette demands he makes the offer."

Another flash of irritation rose through her, but she buried it just like before. "I'll come up with something brief."

Whitley nodded happily before continuing. "At 2:00, the East wing will be opened to all attendees." He noticed the complete lack of recognition three-quarters of team RWBY displayed. "That's where the entertainment is- simulation rooms, bowling, the movie theater, and where we store equipment for outside sports. Jacques said he was in the mood for badminton this morning, so expect that outside."

Hm. That might be fun, actually. Huntresses had abnormal speed, reflexes, and strength, so a pairs match against one another would make for a nice challenge. The sheer difference in physical ability would also stop Jacques or any of the other businessmen from breaking them up.

"Father will be unveiling some new initiatives for the company from 3:00 to 3:30." He couldn't have missed their lackluster reaction to that one, but he set that aside to keep going. "Shortly after, Walter Simmons- one of the professors who worked on the original Atlesian Knight- will make an appearance to show off a breakthrough his team has made."

That sounded interesting, at least. Ruby seemed to recognize the name as well and perked up alongside her.

Blake frowned instead, showing a clear distaste for the man. That made sense- she probably lost more than a few comrades to Walter's creations.

And Yang... She clearly had no idea who that was but nodded along anyway.

"Everyone should be gathered in the dining hall by 4:30 where Father will make another speech- this one for charity." Weiss opened her mouth but Whitley beat her to it. "The itinerary doesn't mention what for, and I didn't think to ask. All I know is that it relates to Mantle."

_Probably the wall, then. _Using military assets to make up for the hole in Mantle's walls would require an extortionate amount of Dust, but that Dust was also at a reduced price due to a number of contracts between the SDC and Atlas. The reduced productivity in Mantle was likely to be a bigger hit than that.

"Once he is done, dinner will begin. That should end around 7:00."

Yang interrupted this time. "Two and a half hours to eat a meal!?"

"Closer to two, given his speech, but yes." Whitley coughed into a fist, the first true break in his composure. "We normally only have six-course dinners here, but Father often includes the full eleven for large events like these."

Weiss caught the way Yang stared, utterly incapable of understanding what he'd just said. Honestly, Weiss was with her here- six courses were ideal.

"I'll arrange for a menu to be brought to you before the dinner itself. I'll be busy for the next few hours, so I'll entrust selecting their meal to you, sister." She nodded, prompting Whitley to move towards the door. "It was a pleasure to meet the three of you, but Father has requested my assistance in entertaining a few other guests. You can find us in his office should you need anything."

With those final words, he stepped out, quietly closing the door behind him.

Left the only Schnee in the room, Weiss finally relaxed, half-falling onto the table. That startled the rest of them, but she found herself faintly bemused by that. They certainly startled her enough times in Beacon to deserve it.

"Weiss?" Yang asked with a noticeable hint of concern. "You alright?"

"I'm fine." And she was, physically at least. She carried herself differently since Beacon, and reverting to 'proper' posture took some effort, but it couldn't possibly compare to the training they all went through. No... "I'm just realizing how exhausting today is going to be if I actually play my part."

There was no real way to hide her contempt of Jacques from the man himself, but he didn't care. It was the image he wanted to portray, and she _could _fake her way through conversations with total strangers.

Her team would help there. Just by being present, they provided both an easy point of conversation and an excuse to bail on any uncomfortable situations.

Yang and Blake, to their credit, nodded in acceptance and focused on the itinerary. Whitley had gone over the main attractions, but Weiss knew from experience there'd be more than that. Mostly after dinner, she imagined- that's where the most time would be.

On the other hand, Ruby was staring at her in a way Weiss almost confused for a glare. It wasn't until Ruby's eyes flicked to the door that Weiss realized she was worried. _What for? _Her, obviously, but why?

"Do you not like your brother?"

"What...?"

Silver eyes locked on hers instantly. "Do _you-_" she jabbed a finger into her sternum- "not like your brother?"

Weiss was taken aback but- still sitting in a chair- could only express that with an indignant gasp. "He's the second coming of Father- of course I don't like him!" Ruby seemed to calm down, settling back into her chair. A few seconds later, Weiss caught her mistake- she'd become _neutral. _"Ruby-"

"It's fine, Weiss," she interrupted in a way that made clear it _wasn't _fine. "Forget I said anything."

Utterly lost, Weiss turned to Yang. The blonde had looked up from the pamphlet but remained silent, only offering a slow shake of her head. Blake didn't even go that far, hiding behind the simple sheet of paper the second Weiss' eyes fell on her.

_What did I do? _It clearly related to Whitley, but why? They didn't know him, or her Father, so why was she perturbed she didn't like him?

"Ruby?" When she didn't turn her head, Weiss pushed harder. "Ruby!"

"Leave it alone."

Weiss was about to push the issue when Yang placed a hand on her shoulder. The shake of her head was a silent warning. With a quiet sigh to calm herself, Weiss let it go. The mood was further ruined, but instigating a fight wouldn't help with that.

A minute or so later, a housekeeper arrived with the menu for tonight's dinner. It was nothing outlandish by her standards, but it might as well have been written in Babel for all the difference that made for them. They gravitated towards dishes with simple words like pork or beef in them, relying on her for the rest.

It was a hassle, but- eventually- a list had been compiled for each of them. The chefs would still have a record of her own preferences, but she enjoyed more red meat and heavy starches after Beacon. That only left a more complicated, though thankfully faster to address, problem.

"Once we're seated, we'll be served, but there will be delays. Only start eating when everyone else does- it's the easiest way to avoid making any mistakes. I might not be at the same table as you and I know you won't remember if I explain the utensil arrangements, so just copy those around you. Oh- unless they're eating the eggs," she added, glancing back towards the menu for a moment. "None of you ordered them, thankfully, but someone will."

The three nodded, though how much of that they would retain wasn't fully clear. Nonetheless, the welcoming ceremony was in only three minutes.

* * *

The door the studio area behind the stage swung open. Jacques glanced to the side, forced to bury the instinct to grimace at the sight of his daughter. Her outfit was the same as she'd worn last she was here, but the time apart showed. Damage to the hem, faded coloration by the color and cuffs- even a button that was clearly sewn back on.

_Hm... That might actually work to my advantage since she's supposed to be returning from a dangerous lifestyle._ And it was dangerous, as powerful as she'd clearly become. Almost half of them died before they could sire a single child. _I'll still need her to change before dinner... _That shouldn't be a challenge- he'd even ensured that every outfit any of them had came in pairs so they could mask this very problem.

"Weiss," he greeted, striding forward to meet her halfway. Weiss nodded slightly, mumbling something that one could reasonably mistake for 'father', while refusing to make eye contact. _If only she'd been this reserved from the beginning. _Her teammates seemed equally unenthused, but the Belladonna girl had the most visceral reaction. Her hand twitched as if reaching for a weapon that wasn't there. She caught the motion an instant later, pressing the hand flat against her thigh as if that was what she intended all along.

It was impossible to hide the way his eyes flicked to the girl's extra set of ears. Despite what many believed, Jacques held no ill will towards Faunus. They simply had lower standards for working conditions than human laborers. Unfortunately for the both of them, Jacques knew that wasn't all she was.

Daughter of Menagerie's Chieftain, a position that is already worthy of significant caution, but also a known White Fang agent and partner to Adam Taurus- the greatest threat the White Fang had to bare. She'd officially left- not even Ozpin could get away with bringing her in if she hadn't- but records indicated a strong level of involvement nonetheless. _I'll be watching you, girl._

From the way her yellow eyes glared into his own, he wasn't alone in that sentiment.

"Weiss, if you would, please stand behind the curtain on either side of the stage. You'll be called out as part of the speech." She obliged wordlessly, tailed by her teammates. The Faunus lagged behind slightly, utterly failing to keep her expression neutral as she watched him.

_And yet I'm the paranoid one. _Jacques hadn't even hired extra security for the event- though there were a few huntsmen among the guest list.

With a shake of his head, Jacques fixed his collar once more and glanced into a mirror. Having naturally perfect complexion and an Aura to avoid blemishes left him without need for makeup, but every part of his outfit still needed to fit perfectly.

Setting his face in a self-assured smile, Jacques followed Weiss out towards the stage. As requested, she was in the wing, leaving the area clear for him.

Conversation throughout the hall abruptly stilled on his approach. With nary a wave to the crowd, Jacques took the podium at the center and posed- arms straight against the wood and expression as confident as his stance.

Cameras flashed, recording both the crowd and him while cementing this day within the aisles of history.

"Welcome, esteemed guests, to the Schnee Manor," Jacques stated. As part and parcel with his role, he couldn't show any excitement. It was convenient, then, that he felt little for the occasion. "As you all should know, I frequently host charity dinners to raise funds for whatever ills affect Atlas and Mantle. Today is no exception, with funds being raised to repair the breaches in Mantle's walls- the Schnee family has already donated five million Lien to the cause and will match whatever you all put forth one to one tonight." Nods and sounds of approval filled the hall, and Jacques waited for it to pass before dropping his cryptic finisher. "But this banquet isn't just for charity."

The reaction to that was mixed but mostly came in the form of confusion or interest. Jacques took full advantage, leaving the meaning vague as he took back control. "I have told this story before- and while many of you have attended these gatherings before and no doubt heard, there are a few new faces that could do with a little history. The Schnee family story is one of triumph over adversity. Whether simply logistical or life-threatening, we have always greeted these challenges with the determination to see it through and the talent required to see our vision through."

"My daughter has become one such example. Top of her classes at Beacon-" academic ones, specifically; it was hardly fair to compare her to Pyrrha Nikos of all people- "and part of the best team at the Vytal Festival, she more than proved herself even before fighting in the defense of Beacon." Jacques paused, his eyes passing over the crowd. "Most of Atlas has been wondering where Weiss has been these past two months, and I am pleased to say the conspiracy theorists were wrong. She is alive, well, and here this very moment." Jacques made his smile a little softer as he looked her way- the silent request clear.

He took two steps from the podium as she came out, taking it amongst the surprised adulation. There were a few who were not so enthused- no doubt remembering her last public appearance- but they could thankfully be ignored. Small in number and with no recordings of that event, they could be dealt with subtly.

* * *

Weiss stood there for a moment, hesitating. The energy of the crowd let her get away with it, preventing her from speaking anyway, but Weiss could still clearly recognize the way her hands gripped the podium tight enough to press in the soft wood. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jacques' smirk; it was as self-assured as always, and the way he watched her with a mix of amusement and the unmistakable air of satisfaction only caused her grip to tighten further. He wasn't alone in it, either- Whitley had the very same smile on his face as he watched her from the crowd.

She forced herself to relax before she broke the podium. Having to replace the Vacuan Alpis, without access to the Schnee coffers, would bankrupt her entire team.

"Thank you all for coming and for any donations you may make," Weiss began, mostly because it was easy _and _expected. Jacques nodded, and his approval felt far worse than it had as a child. It reminded her of the weight Raven's shackles had, but all the more insidious for how it wasn't visible. "The people of Mantle will thank you as well, as your contributions make the city a safer place."

Jacques nodded again, no doubt pleased by her word choice. It hadn't been intentional, but these people were from Atlas, so using the description of their relationship as giving unto a defenseless _other _place would stroke their egos. _How deep does his influence over me go? _He had raised her, as much as she hated it now. The crowd didn't hear her inner thoughts, and so took to the 'praise' with smiles and nods to one another.

She used the moment's respite it offered to prepare herself for what was about to come. "And I would like to extend my personal thanks to General Ironwood for sponsoring my stay in Atlas."

There was the briefest moment of silence before the words truly sunk in. For that split second, the only sound Weiss heard was Jacques' jaw snapping shut.

That little click was oh so satisfying.

Questions rang out in an indistinguishable mass. Weiss didn't even bother trying to differentiate the voices- she knew what at least _some _of them were asking. She raised a hand for silence but settled for the much quieter mumbling. The gesture also implied her wish to continue, which brought Jacques to a standstill.

_Trying to take the podium back, huh? _He'd stood just slightly too far to the left to arrive in time, and that cost him his only chance to stop her.

"Following the actions of my team and Team JNPR at Haven and the takedown of the Leviathan at Argus, we have been made into official Atlesian huntsmen and it is by that position alone that I will remain on the same continent as my Father."

Weiss eyed Jacques for a brief instant. Oh yeah, that smirk was _gone. _There was still one tiny, little, microscopic piece of news left, though.

"And, for the sake of fairness, I must offer my thanks to one final person," she declared. "There was one other fighter there in Argus- the man who truly secured the safety of Argus." The whole room seemed to vibrate from the suspense- Jacques genuinely did, though obviously for a different reason.

Grinning vindictively, Weiss allowed a moment to pass in anticipation.

"Thank you for your service, Adam Taurus of the White Fang!"

The crowd erupted.

* * *

Everything was canceled.

Weiss wasn't particularly surprised by that, nor the way Jacques had them forcibly removed from the manor. The bullhead they'd ridden in on their way here was still docked, and since Blake learned to pilot them back in her terrorist days, they had a clear way home.

They... Did not leave. The engines didn't even start, despite the fact Blake and Yang sealed themselves off in the cockpit.

"...ible sister," Ruby muttered under her breath.

Weiss glanced her way. "Huh?"

She looked up, scowling. "You are a horrible sister."

"What is your problem?" Weiss growled.

"_My _problem?" Ruby's hands tightened into fists. "What about _yours!?"_

Weiss tried to take a step back, forgetting entirely that she was standing in a bullhead. She tripped backward onto a seat.

The motion only seemed to make Ruby angrier.

"Out of the four of us, you have the _best possible chance _at a normal family life! I've heard your perspective, and I can respect your wish to be outside Jacques' control, but do you have any idea how the rest of your family feels!?" She threw an arm out to the side, gesturing towards the door. "Whitley was _ecstatic _to have to back- he didn't once stop smiling after seeing us. You didn't even notice, did you?"

Weiss tilted her head slightly, only having recalled him smiling once. It was the wide grin he'd given when he learned she'd be around for a while...

"Tell me, right now- why don't you like Whitley?"

"I-I, he..." Weiss raised her hands, earning a moment to actually consider her answer. Ruby's eyes narrowed further, but she took a step back. "Nicholas Schnee- my grandfather," she explained, knowing only Blake would know, "started this company with funds he earned using the family Semblance for the Kingdom of Mantle. The company made a name for itself with the sheer amount it could produce, largely thanks to the power our glyphs can offer a mining crew."

"Jacques married into the family prior to Nicholas' death, and since he was the more business savvy of my parents, he was made the next head of the company. In only a few years, almost everything my grandfather had built was changed with the goal of profits over everything. And, as you no doubt no, that was a resounding success." Ruby opened her mouth, but- knowing what she was about to say- Weiss continued. "Around the time Whitley turned eight, Jacques took a personal hand in grooming him to be the heir. He took to it well, mastering every lesson even better than I did."

"You've told us the story of how Winter left the family to join the military; with you training to be a huntress, was he supposed to think you _weren't _following in her footsteps!?" Ruby shook her head furiously. "But no, it's clearly because he's a _monster._ It's not like you _did _abandon the family or anything! Twice!" she added, throwing her arms in the air.

Weiss stammered, but words weren't forthcoming.

"And now you return, only to embarrass the whole family and give thanks to a _terrorist organization!" _Ruby forced herself to breathe, some semblance of calm returning. "I'm still glad Adam was there to save Argus, but he did it entirely out of self-interest; he wanted to revive the White Fang. Well, congratulations! You just helped him do that!"

"That doesn't-" Weiss grit her teeth. "I didn't think that part through enough. Fine. That still doesn't mean my brother is any better than Jacques."

"You don't like him because you think he's like Jacques?"

"Think?" Weiss asked, brandishing an eyebrow. "I know him, Ruby, more than you at least."

She disagreed.

"Jacques would go out of his way to invite the girl who ran away twice back into the family?" Weiss blinked, but Ruby wasn't finished. "Jacques would greet you with a kind smile, even in private and with nothing to gain? Jacques would bring you back knowing full well you might become a threat to his place as heir?"

"But-"

"Shut up!"

Weiss did, jaw slamming together hard enough to hurt.

"Look- I can tell that Jacques isn't a great parent. I can see why you dislike _him _since I do too. Whitley, though?" Ruby sighed, all her energy seeming to drain out of her with that breath. "I don't think you and Winter gave him a chance."

"You're blaming us for him coming out like Jacques!?"

Ruby stared her down, and Weiss was forced to shy away from it. It stopped there, though. "I do blame you, if indirectly. What happens if he dies and none of you are fit to run the company?"

"A member of the Board of Directors is elected to the position."

"I knew it was something like that." Ruby pointed a finger towards the manor, still visible through the bullhead windows. "Jacques wanted one of you to take over after he was gone, so he taught each of you how to do the job. Winter left, so he focused on you until you made it blindingly obvious you were going to leave too. He only _has _one other kid."

_Is it that simple? _Jacques never made mention of retiring, but was the because he planned to run the business until he died or because he _couldn't _retire without giving the company away? Even now, none of them were fit to run the company. It might take another decade or more to prepare Whitley, and that was with six continuous years of tutelage.

"And I want an honest answer right now- did you disagree with _everything _Jacques taught you?"

No...

The answer must have shown on her face because Ruby nodded. "Exactly. Even by your own admission, he's great at his job. Teaching Whitley that can only be a good thing for the company, and any problems you have with his practices can be addressed properly. This-" she threw her arms to the side, gesturing to the manor again- "accomplishes nothing but burning that bridge forever."

"What..." Weiss looked up to the team leader- _her _leader- with one question. "What do I do?"

Ruby broke eye contact.

"Oh..."

* * *

Jacques thanked the Brothers for his secretary- Miss Hawkins- and the way she calmly ordered a new chair to replace the newly smashed pile of wood in his office. No amount of catharsis would cure his temper, but it did allow him to simmer down. Acting irrationally at a time like this would only make the situation worse, especially with the election coming up.

_Like I have a chance to win that now. _With his daughter humiliating him in public _again, _and with video footage this time, there was no way he'd beat that thieving bitch Robin. Oh, there wasn't any incriminating proof, but there was no doubting the source of the robberies. _Losing to a criminal... What could be more pathetic?_

A few ideas came to mind- part of the curse of intelligence- but he ignored them. As he'd said at the beginning, the Schnee name stood for triumph over adversity; there was _always _a solution, and he already had one in mind. With a vicious grin, Jacques locked the door to the office.

His computer terminal whirred to life while Jacques dug through his bookshelves. An unassuming book, Ghost In The Wires, was drawn out and flipped to page 20. At the top, alongside an artistic 'W', was a long string of random characters.

Remembering the instructions from so long ago, Jacques held the CTRL key down as he typed it in. The process took around two minutes, given the length of the password and the risk should he mess up, but he was eventually able to submit the password like any other.

The computer appeared to log in just like normal, but the screen loaded into a call the moment it booted up. It rang a few times, only the same artistic 'W' from earlier on the screen, before it finally settled onto a familiar face.

"Watts. It's good to know you're still alive."

_"Jacques," _the mustached man returned. _"And what's the point of faking one's death if you die soon after?"_ He fiddled with something just outside the view of his scroll- no doubt a computer terminal of his own._ "To what do I owe the pleasure?"_

The moment of truth. "I need a favor."

_"What wonderful timing," _Watts exclaimed with a growing smile. _"I was about to call you for the very same."_

* * *

**I want to take a moment to clarify something in this chapter. Since I write from the 'third-person limited' narrator, the beliefs or opinions stated within the thoughts of characters are phrased as though facts. Whether Jacques actually is racist or not is never confirmed since he only showed disapproval of Blake specifically and he had Faunus staff at his manor. Either way, he wouldn't think he is and I won't be addressing the problem itself in my story.**

**Racism is a difficult subject to _resolve _because it's an embedded cultural idea that can't be stripped away from everyone. It can take generations not because of the time it takes to convince people but simply because it takes that long for the people sticking to it to die. Since it can't be done in a timely manner, I will not be contriving a solution to do so anyway or take time away from world-ending cataclysm to provide further elaboration on it.**

**And speaking of flawed narrators, Weiss is equally inaccurate. While all the events described did in fact happen, the emotions or intentions she attributes to them can be and are sometimes inaccurate. **

**I also wrote the history of Nicholas Schnee before watching the World of Remnant, and I can't help but be pleased that they came up with almost exactly the same thing. There are _some _differences I have planned here, but those can wait for later.**

**And yes, Jacques knew about Watts! It doesn't change much in terms of how things play out right now, but it makes their interactions more realistic and makes proving their cooperation all the more difficult. The whole 'Willow has video proof of them conspiring against the government' thing felt wrong to me, both because of narrative convenience but also because it undermines the paranoia Watts and Jacques are supposed to have.**


End file.
